National Lottery Sales Grow to Second Highest in National Lottery’s History to Reach £8.19bn in 2022/23

– More than a millionaire a day and three biggest-ever UK winners created as total prize money hits £4.69 billion –

– £36 million a week raised for projects and communities across the UK –

– £3.11 billion raised for society through Good Causes, Lottery Duty and retailer commission –

UNITED KINGDOM (May 23, 2023) — Camelot UK Lotteries Limited (‘Camelot’, an Allwyn company) today announced that total National Lottery sales for the 2022/23 financial year (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) increased by £99.6 million to £8,190.3 million – the second highest annual sales total since The National Lottery’s launch. As a result of this strong performance, returns to Good Causes from ticket sales alone hit an all-time high of £1,807.0 million in 2022/23, £6.2 million higher than in the previous year.

Over the same period, The National Lottery awarded £4,694.0 million in prize money to players – up £81.7 million and the second highest-ever amount awarded – and created 382 new millionaires, equivalent to more than one a day. These included five EuroMillions jackpots that were scooped in the UK – with a trio of very lucky players winning prizes so big that they immediately became the UK’s three biggest-ever winners.

Including unclaimed prizes – which are passed to Good Causes after 180 days and which were £40.7 million lower than in 2021/22 as more people were united with their winnings this year in line with the increased shift to digital play – a total of £1,877.3 million, or an average of £36 million every week, was generated for Good Causes over the period. This takes the total raised for National Lottery projects since 1994 to more than £47 billion.

£3.1 billion was once again generated for society through Good Causes, Lottery Duty – which was almost £1 billion in 2022/23 – and retailer commission. With UK consumers facing significant inflationary pressure, these strong results show that The National Lottery is continuing to deliver for people, projects and communities across the UK.

Camelot Co-CEOs, Clare Swindell and Neil Brocklehurst, said: “We’re delighted to have grown National Lottery sales year-on-year to their second highest on record, creating almost 400 millionaires in the process. And with £36 million being raised each week for Good Cause projects around the UK and returns from ticket sales rising to their best-ever level, it’s clear that The National Lottery is delivering for players and society in what are very challenging times.

“We have more exciting plans lined up for the year ahead to ensure that The National Lottery remains front of mind and brings people together at key national moments. And, we also remain committed to delivering the National Lottery in a safe and socially-responsible way. All while we continue to support Allwyn UK on its transition plans to the fourth licence, from 1 February 2024.”

Robert Chvátal, CEO Allwyn AG, said: “This past year’s performance demonstrates the core strengths of The National Lottery in consistently delivering for Good Causes, even in an environment where consumer spending is under pressure. We were delighted to integrate Camelot into the Allwyn group earlier this year, bringing their experience and know-how to Allwyn UK’s vision for the fourth licence. It is great to be working with them on the successful delivery of The National Lottery through this year and over the next decade as part of the Allwyn team, while maintaining a steadfast focus on safe play.”

Draw-based games growth driven by EuroMillions
A strong performance from EuroMillions over the period helped propel draw-based games sales to £4,739.4 million – up £91.9 million. The game with the huge rolling jackpot lived up to its name throughout 2022/23, with 30 draws offering jackpots of over £100 million – compared with 15 the year before – driving both player excitement and sales. Lotto, meanwhile, continued to perform steadily despite seeing fewer sales-driving ‘Must Be Won’ draws over the period and lived up to its millionaire-maker reputation by creating 134 new millionaires.

The series of huge EuroMillions rollover draws also helped to grow sales across the Instants category, which rose by £7.7 million to £3,450.9 million – with players buying Instant Win Games as spontaneous add-on products to go with their EuroMillions tickets. Elsewhere within the category, Scratchcard sales dipped in a reflection of people’s changing shopping habits and the ongoing challenging retail environment.

Digital grows to a 45% share of sales and drives record performance
The National Lottery continues to be one of the top e-commerce sites in the UK, with more than 10.7 million active registered online players. With record numbers of people – one in five UK adults – playing The National Lottery online over the period, digital sales grew to their highest-ever level of £3,690.7 million – up £274.2 million.

Mobile continued to grow as the digital channel of choice for players, with £2,760.7 million of total digital sales coming from tablets and smartphones – up £311.3 million on the year before. Sales across the National Lottery’s app – which was downloaded 2.5 million times in 2022/23 – accounted for more than 70% of all mobile sales. Thanks to strong player retention rates, digital growth was driven by the huge EuroMillions roll series and through a number of key initiatives and innovations, including a significant update to enhance the user experience for draw-based games on the National Lottery app.

Retail sees some recovery in the second half of the year
Despite tough trading conditions, in-store sales recovered slightly over the last six months to reach £4,499.6 million for the full year, as people visited stores more frequently in search of the best value.

Camelot continues to invest and support its National Lottery retail partners, with its in-store standards and rewards programme boosting National Lottery retailers’ income by awarding almost £540,000 in cash rewards to independent shopkeepers over the period. The 43,000-strong network of National Lottery retailers also shared a total of £254.7 million in sales commission over the year, working out at around £6,000 per store. Over £7.7 billion has been paid in commission to retailers since 1994.

Brand activity helps The National Lottery take centre stage across the UK
Camelot and the wider National Lottery family continued to carry out work throughout the period to drive relevance, positivity and participation through a number of special promotional initiatives designed to showcase The National Lottery’s role in national life and to thank players for their all-important contribution by bringing people together in celebration.

In May 2022, The National Lottery’s Big Jubilee Street Party welcomed 10,000 National Lottery players free of charge to a live music event held at Manchester’s AO arena to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. And later in the year, an unforgettable National Lottery Christmas campaign focused on uniting people and bringing them together – much like The National Lottery itself does. As the Christmas period got into full swing, The National Lottery’s special seasonal advertising campaign – about two strangers who meet on a train and become lucky in love and the lottery – hit screens around the UK and went on to win the Campaign’s film ad of the year.

Rounding off the year was The National Lottery’s Big Bash, which ended 2022 with a bang – as 8,000 National Lottery players packed into the OVO Arena Wembley to see performances from a star-studded musical line-up. And, in February this year, The National Lottery hosted its second Big Night of Musicals in Manchester, a spectacular celebration of the world of musical theatre in front of 12,000 National Lottery players, while March saw the return of National Lottery Open Week, with players enjoying free access to dozens of lottery-funded venues throughout the UK.

Going into 2023/24, Camelot has continued to maximise opportunities to ensure that The National Lottery remains front of mind and brings people together at key national moments, hosting The National Lottery’s Big Eurovision Welcome for more than 20,000 National Lottery players in the heart of Liverpool earlier this month, as well as supporting communities across the UK to host street parties and get-togethers to celebrate the King’s Coronation.

NOTE:  Total ticket sales and all related financial results figures for 2022/23 are subject to final audit.

SOURCE: Camelot Press Office.