Lottery Wars take a new turn

Competition to the National Lottery is set to intensify as the Health Lottery, run by Northern and Shell, has licensed its brand to Coral, the UK’s third largest retail bookmaking business. Players of a new Coral game, The Health Lottery Plus, will in effect bet on the five numbers drawn in that Lottery, rather than buying a ticket for the draw itself – a move which enables the partners to sidestep current legislation restricting the size of jackpot prizes paid out by society lotteries to £25k or 10% of ticket sales. Betting operators are subject to no such limits.

The new game will be available in Coral shops and online for just £1 – half the price of Lotto tickets, which rose to £2 on 3 October. Coral’s director of communications Simon Clare said: “This is going to go down a storm. It will only be a matter of time before we are celebrating our first Coral Plus millionaire for just a £1 bet.” According to CivilSociety, the Gambling Commission has raised concerns about the new game. Betting on the outcome of lotteries is legal, except for the National Lottery, but only if players are aware that the game is a bet and not a lottery. The regulator is worried that players may think they are contributing to good causes when in fact they are giving their money to a private bookmaker.

The Health Lottery, which acts as an umbrella brand for 51 local health-based charity lotteries, has since its inception been subject to controversy and legal dispute, with National Lottery operator Camelot having ultimately lost the fight to retain its ring-fenced position as the only lottery allowed to operate on a national basis. The company is currently under fire for having doubled its ticket prices, amidst predictions that as many of 70% of Lotto players will be less likely to buy tickets following the increase. Such a trend could deliver a serious threat to arts funding. Camelot achieved record sales in 2012/13, which led to £2bn going to National Lottery Good Causes over the year, a 6.9% increase on the previous year. Arts Council England’s dependence on National Lottery revenues has grown in parallel. Its Lottery revenues grew by £60m in 2012/13 to reach £270m – 36% of its entire income.