The UK
National Lottery has seen a drop in the amount of money raised for good causes,
but lottery organizers, Camelot, deny
the drop is related to last year's 100% increase in ticket prices.
In October
2013 the price of National Lottery tickets doubled and lottery players were
forced to shell out £2 if they wanted to continue to playing the game.
The statistics
show that the amount of money raised for good causes in the first three months
following the price hike was £121 million less than the amount raised during
the same period in 2012.
Figures
provided by the National Lottery Commission show that between October and
December 2012 the National Lottery raised £538.1 million for good causes, but
raised only £417.2 million in the three months after the increased ticket
price.
Camelot says
the figures are deceptive though, and claims the difference in figures is
really attributable to the amount of funding available for good causes between
October and December 2012 getting a boost when someone failed to claim a £64
million EuroMillions prize.
A Camelot
representative stated: "The fall in returns to the good causes (Quarter 3
2013/14 versus Quarter 3 2012/13) cannot be attributed to the changes made to
the National Lottery’s flagship game. On the contrary, new Lotto has rekindled
player interest in the game, delivering tens of millions of pounds more in
prizes to winners, and has led to immediate sales growth and a significant
increase in returns to the good causes—which is exactly what it was designed to
do."
