It seems that an increasing number of UK players are turning to the lottery in an attempt to win their way out of stagnating wages and economic hardship.
As reported by Global Betting and Gaming consultants (GBGC), the UK government has received a record number of lottery duty receipts from the National Lottery.
Lottery duty is charged at 12 per cent of lottery ticket sales and receipts have been rising strongly since 2007 when lottery duty was £577.8m. The provisional figure recorded by HMRC for 2011 is £765.5m, which is around 32 per cent higher.
Earlier this month, the National Lottery Commission extended Camelot’s licence by four years, taking it to 2023. Camelot has also been given permission to expand the number of lottery outlets by 8,000. Camelot believes it will be able to generate an extra £540m in lottery duty as a result of these measures.
“GBGC’s research has shown that lotteries around the world are resilient to recessions and part of the reason for this is that consumers see large jackpot wins as an easy, if statistically unlikely, way out of their financial problems,” explained director Lorien Pilling.
In November 2011, a YouGov survey commissioned by the Institute of Financial Planning for Financial Planning Week found that 29 per cent of the 2,060 surveyed said that winning the lottery represented the best hope of improving their bank balance.
