Lotto aid for good causes soars to £900m
DREAMERS hoping for life as a Lottery multi-millionaire have helped donations for good causes rise to nearly £900million, up 10.5 per cent on last year.
The UK player who won £170million last month was just one among the army of punters boosting results for the EuroMillions prize.
Operator Camelot says the bumper spend pushed sales to a record £3.9billion. Prizes to players increased by 13.4 per cent – a total of £2.2billion, and £265.3million more than last year.
Camelot boss Nigel Railton said: “It is 25 years to the day since we started selling tickets for that first Lotto draw and our record half-year performance clearly shows that the National Lottery is in its best ever shape.
“Not only are sales up across the board but we have also delivered more than £3.2billion to good cause projects, players and retailers in just six months – underlining the incredible difference that, over two decades on, the National Lottery continues to make to the lives of people and communities throughout the UK.”
Mr Railton said the newest game Set For Life also had “a strong start” and had so far created nine winners of its top prize of £10,000-a-month for 30 years since its launch in March.
The company also increased sales of its scratchcards and online instant win games by £164.7million to £1.6billion.
Mobile sales grew £317.4million to a high of £749million, with sales through smartphones and tablets accounting for nearly 65 per cent of all digital sales.
Sales through smartphones and tablets have grown 73 per cent year-on-year. Retail still accounts for more than 70 per cent of all sales, which grew by £132.2million to £2.7billion.