The Health Lottery has called on Camelot to back down from its claims that the newcomer lottery is costing it £1m a week in lost sales following the release of a report to the contrary, but Camelot is standing by its figures.
Figures released in a report, which was commissioned by the DCMS, Gambling Commission and National Lottery Council, showed the cost was significantly lower than those quoted by Camelot earlier this year. The figures were presented to the High Court last Friday as judges considered Camelot’s application for a judicial review of the Gambling Commission’s licensing of the Health Lottery.
The release of the report by Nera Economic Consulting, and the legal battle during which it was released, is part of an ongoing tussle between Camelot, the Health Lottery and the Gambling Commission which has been running since the Health Lottery began holding draws, last October.
The report which was referred to by Health Lottery lawyers, found “no clear evidence that the Health Lottery has taken very significant revenues from the National Lottery or that it poses a threat to existing society lotteries”.
“There is an impact on National Lottery sales. This impact is very difficult to accurately estimate,” the report read, but
it estimated the impact of the Health Lottery on National Lottery sales to be in the region of £300,000 a week.
The National Lottery has suffered a drop in Saturday Hotpicks sales since the Health Lottery launched, Nera estimated, and added “for other games there is no sign of such a clear impact, though some of the data are more difficult to interpret”.
As a result of the report, the Health Lottery has demanded Camelot to retract the claims it made earlier this year that the National Lottery is losing £1m a week as a result of the Health Lottery.
“Camelot has consistently made the claim that good causes have suffered since the launch of the Health Lottery. The Nera report… demonstrates that their claim is false,” said a Health Lottery spokesperson.
“We call on Camelot to now retract their claims and to recognise the impact that the 51 society lotteries have had on helping to build a healthier Britain through the Health Lottery.”
A Camelot spokesperson noted that the Nera report is a draft, and maintained the company’s earlier estimates were sound. “We stand by our earlier detailed analysis of the Health Lottery’s sales impact on the National Lottery, which was carried out using robust consumer-based, sales-based and econometric research.”
Camelot reiterated its position that it feels the Health Lottery is unlawful, and is concerned that that its success will invite copycat multi-society lottery structures which could provide competition to the National Lottery.
