Camelot UK Lotteries has announced that for the first time in its 28-year history, UK National Lottery sales passed the $4bn mark during the first six months of its 2022-23 financial year.
Primarily driven by digital performance, the Lottery’s draw-based games generated £2.40bn of the £4.06bn total sales, a 7.5% year-on-year uplift.
EuroMillions and Lotto both performed well but scratchcard and online instant win games sales fell by 3.7%, due to reduced retail footfall.
The real growth came from digital sales, up by a huge 13% over the period, to £1.84bn, with mobile sales climbing by 19%, to £1.37bn. Camelot signed up 1.1m new online players during the half-year, growing its total digital customer base to 10.7m. The operator also distributed £965.5m to ‘good causes’ during the period, its record total for the opening six months of a financial year.
Camelot’s Chairman, Sir Hugh Robertson, said: “I am delighted that these record results show that the National Lottery is returning more to Good Causes than ever before.
“In this hugely testing economic period, I am proud that my team’s remarkable performance builds on previous years of record ticket sales and returns to Good Causes and extends our track record of delivering for people across the UK.
“With just over a year to run until the start of the next licence period, I am confident that The National Lottery has never been in better shape.”
