UK lottery operator claims growth

UK National Lottery operator claims growth

UK National Lottery operator, Camelot, has condemned the report released recently in the media - GamblingGates.com earlier published studies revealing that the public is becoming ‘bored’ with the lottery.

This research, disclosed by Mintel, states that the percentage of Britons playing the main Saturday night draw has dropped to 63% from 76% in 1999, compared with a 1% fall in sport betting, and 2% in fruit and quiz machine use, over the same period.

Mark Brechin, a leisure analyst at Mintel, was quoted by Onlinecasinonews.com as saying: “The introduction of new lottery games has failed to sustain long-term interest. The biggest problem seems to be the lottery is run. People are bored with the main Lotto draw and want more prizes with lower jackpots. They also want to see the money they spend go back to their local communities. Camelot, whose contract runs out in 2009, is in a precarious situation.”

Now Camelot in its turn denounces this ‘spin, filled with glaring inaccuracies’ report and argued that the figure of lottery players has not dropped but stayed level at around 70% for years. The company also claims that the average spend of its customers is GBP2.66 and not the GBP1 reported by Mintel.

A Camelot spokesman said: “It is a great pity that Mintel has chosen to 'spin' a report that contains quite so many inaccuracies and contradictions, especially when the National Lottery is enjoying its longest period of growth for seven years.”

According to the U.K. National Lottery Commission, 2003-2004 ticket sales increased by 1 percent over the previous one-year period. This figure saw the first such increase in five years. The commission’s representative was cited by Igamingnews.com as saying that sales are to grow in future due to wider covering of jackpots, Internet play and newer games.