Lotto winners may soon get £10,000 every month for life

RADICAL changes to the National Lottery may see the introduction of a game which gives winners a monthly payout for life.

Players could claim a regular payout of £10,000 rather than one lump sum.

The move is part of a wider bid to reverse falling ticket sales. The Lotto has suffered a disastrous 22 per cent drop in tickets bought over the past two years, it was revealed yesterday.

It means Lottery grants, currently at £30million a week, are under threat.

As a result, there will be changes to the game which could mean fewer mega jackpots in favour of increasing payments throughout the prize tiers.

The new boss of Camelot, Nigel Railton, said efforts to rebuild sales will focus on highlighting how the lottery supported community groups, charities, culture and sport.

‘We think the good cause element has been lost over time and there has been too much focus on winners. We need to

bring to the fore again... the fact we make a millionaire on average every single day and that we raise £30million a week for good causes.’

Mr Railton said evidence from the US and Australia showed that an annuity-style game, which makes monthly payments rather than a jackpot, will be a popular addition to the current portfolio of the Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball and scratchcards.

‘A bunch of our players are saying they don’t necessarily want to win a big jackpot, but they want financial stability and security for the rest of their life,’ he said.

Camelot said ticket sales across all its games were down by 3.2 per cent in the six months of the financial year to £3.28 billion. This follows a fall of 8.8 per cent in the previous year. The problems with the Lotto were partly offset by better sales of EuroMillions tickets.

‘Too much focus on winners’