The company, which has taken legal action against the Gaming Commission after losing its next lottery license to Czech’s newcomer Allwyn, saw sales fall 3% to 8 8.1 billion a year as of March 31. He said most of the drop was due to a 7% drop in National Lottery Instants sales to 3, 3.4 billion. “This is largely due to greater competition for people’s attention and spending after the lifting of restrictions on Covid, followed by growing financial uncertainty in the latter part of the year,” Camelot said. Scratch sales remained below pre-pandemic levels. Sales to 44,500 national lottery retailers fell 4% to ,7 4.7 million during the year. Retailers represent almost 60% of the group’s total sales. Camelot blamed pandemic restrictions earlier in the year that affected shoppers’ traffic and frequency, but more recently the cost-of-life crisis, which it said was slowing the retail trade recovery as “consumers tightened their belts”. The draw went better, although ticket sales fell slightly to 4 4.6 billion, with fewer big EuroMillions reversals. There were 15 draws with jackpots of over εκατο 100 million, compared to 22 last year. With the end of the restrictions on Covid, online sales fell 2.6% to 3, 3.4 billion, in part due to the introduction of lower limits for online games and wallets for potentially at-risk players. Camelot said 1, 1.9 billion was created for good cause during the year, the second highest total collected. Camelot CEO Nigel Railton said next year the company would “continue to invest and innovate to meet the changing consumer environment”. He added: “Camelot has once again raised a record amount of goodwill from ticket sales and also ensured that 1 3.1 billion £ was once again created for society through goodwill, lottery tax and retail supply, each time other sources of funding are squeezed “. Subscribe to the Business Email daily email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk In March, Camelot lost its lottery license in 2024, after 30 years of operating the game. The 10-year license was awarded to Allwyn, which organizes lotteries in Austria, Italy and Greece. He pledged to reduce the cost of tickets to the UK. Its parent company is the Sazka Group, a heterogeneous group owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek. Camelot and media mogul Richard Desmond, who also lost in the lucrative licensing competition, have filed a lawsuit and are taking their case to the Supreme Court in October.
