Lottery to launch £10,000-a-month lifetime prize

Camelot bids to entice new generation of players amid falling ticket sales and gripes it is too hard to win

‘The younger generation are finding it difficult to get on the housing ladder and they want prizes that help this’

THE National Lottery is creating a new prize of £10,000 a month for life, amid falling ticket sales and a perception that the game is too hard to win. Instead of winning a lump sum those taking part in the new game could win a monthly tax-free lifetime income of as much as £10,000, which would last until they die.

Camelot, the organiser of the lottery, is introducing the annuity-style prize as part of a revamp of the game, in a bid to boost declining ticket sales and make the lottery appealing to “modern Britain”.

It comes after some winners have gone public with their tales of woe after finding that having six lucky numbers has turned out to be more of a curse than a lucky break.

The responsibility of winning such a large sum has left some people struggling with depression, feeling isolated from friends, with some saying they wish they had never played in the first place.

Camelot said there was now a “growing number of players who dream of long-term financial security rather than big jackpots”, vowing to explore ways of satisfying this demand with an annuity-style game. Nigel Railton, CEO at Camelot, said the details of the annuity prize, such as the odds of winning and whether it will be index-linked to rise with inflation, were still under consideration.

He said: “We want to get new people into the game and our research tells us that more people these days want financial security. The younger generation are finding it difficult to get on the housing ladder and they want prizes that help with this.”

Lottery ticket sales fell by 3.2 per cent to £3.2 billion for the six months to Sept 23 2017. This followed total ticket sales falling 8.8per cent to £6.9billion for the 2016-17 year, down from a record £7.5billion the previous year.

The declining sales came after changes to the Lotto draw in 2015 saw the number of balls increase from 49 to 59, and the chance of winning the jackpot decrease from 1 in 14 million to 1 in 45 million.

In September last year the cost of playing Euromillions also increased by 50p to £2.50 a line and players had to choose from an extra number, decreasing the odds of winning the jackpot.

Mr Railton added that Camelot is also making plans to sell lottery tickets in discount stores like Aldi and Lidl as well as at self-service checkouts.

It is also introducing a Tuesday Thunderball draw in the new year.