£10 scratchcards drive lottery sales

Although sales for the Christmas charity draw continue to slump, overall lottery sales in the island increased by 3% last year, topping £13.3m.

Across the Channel Islands, lotto sales were up 1% on 2021 and 9% on 2020.

This was largely driven by sales of £10 scratchcards, which increased 16% year-on-year, and generated nearly 50% of all local lottery sales at £5.9m. They were also popular in the other islands, with sales in total up 20%.

‘This does suggest that players have strong appetite for higher priced games,’ said Deputy Charles Parkinson, chairman of the CI Lottery sub-committee, in its annual report.

The best period for scratchcard sales in both islands every year is between January and August, which sees the traditional launch of new games. Sales were up 4% in this time compared to 2021.

The Christmas draw, with a £2 price point for tickets and a rising top prize, saw sales decline again last December. They dropped 9%, as just slightly more than 400,000 tickets were sold in the Bailiwick, compared to 518,850 in Jersey.

The top prize has fallen steadily too, from £1m. in 2019 to £696,740 in 2020, £630,852 the following year and just £545,118 last year.

The top prize was won in Guernsey for a fifth successive year.