Lottery Sales hit £5 billion
Last Updated: Monday 30th July 2018, 12:43
When the National Lottery launched back in 1994, no one in the UK had seen anything like it. Ticket sales were brisk and pretty soon the Lotto was totalling sales as high as £5.5 billion a year. However, the novelty wore off a little and while the Lotto and Euromillions are still popular, this height of ticket sales has never been seen again. Until this year that is, as lottery sales hit £5 billion at the end of February, signifying what could be a record year for the Lotto.
These totals are taken from the sale of all lottery tickets in the UK, including the main draw, secondary draws such as the Lotto Plus 5 and the Euromillions Lottery. Sales are expected to reach £5.7 billion by the start of the new fiscal year, a record not seen for 13 years in the history of the Lotto.
So what is driving players to buy more lottery tickets than ever before? Well, the big jackpots might have something to do with it. This week alone there is £85 million up for grabs to UK Lottery players and as always it’s tax-free.
On Wednesday evening it’s a UK Lotto triple rollover, with an estimated jackpot of £17.8 million and then on Friday evening there’s a £68 million quadruple rollover up for grabs. With jackpots like this, it’s little wonder lottery sales are so high, but don’t forget to check your winning lottery numbers on the lottery results page as there’s something else high too, it’s the unclaimed prizes from the National Lottery, which have just topped £1.1 billion! If you buy lottery tickets, make sure you check the lottery results page or you could miss out on a big win!