Camelot suffers sales slump after lottery relaunch

Unveiling its end of year results, the National Lottery operator says sales improved in the second half of the year. First-half sales were down 5% year-on-year.

Camelot found itself in hot water this week following reports quoting Dianne Thompson as saying players "would be lucky to win a tenner". The firm also revealed that Saturday's Lotto draw sold only £43.5m worth of tickets, despite a £72m relaunch push.

Camelot said Thompson had been taken out of context, and argued that the one in 57 odds would come as no surprise to players.

The week before relaunch it had sales of £44.3m. Saturday's ticket sales of £43.5m were its lowest yet and compare to £55.2m for Saturday May 17, the day after the big game was relaunched as Lotto.

A Camelot spokesman said it was unfair to judge the relaunch effort so early into the six-month campaign.

This article was first published on Marketing