The UK Gambling Commission has revealed that sales of the UK National Lottery have ‘held-up’ during Covid-19 lockdown. As part of its focus on gambling activity during the crisis, the regulator has released figures for the whole industry during the month of April collected from the largest online operators and the YouGov Covid-19 tracker.
Gambling operator data on overall active player accounts indicates a 5% decrease between March and April 2020, driven substantially by a 55% fall in real event betting which reflects the lack of top-quality sport during April. Although fewer consumers are taking part in sports betting, the data indicates that the participation has not fallen as drastically as anticipated at the beginning of the crisis.
This is reflected in the four waves of the YouGov survey conducted from 16 April to 7 May. Past-four-week gambling participation remained relatively stable, with the exception of significant decreases in participation in National Lottery draws and sports betting, and a significant increase in those playing National Lottery online instant win games.
While it has still been possible to purchase National Lottery tickets in a retail environment, there has been an impact from a small decrease in the availability of retail outlets and the decline in consumer shopping journeys.
National Lottery online instant win growth was from a low base and against a backdrop of decreasing scratchcard sales
Despite this, the Gambling Commission stated: “National Lottery sales have held up reasonably. Despite an initial fall, sales have recovered to a level slightly below normal.”
The figures imply that the lockdown period has also shown an increase in range of activities for some; the YouGov research shows that around a third of past four-week gamblers say they have tried one or more gambling activities for the first time during lockdown.
The main new activity is National Lottery draw-based games, with one in five recent gamblers claiming to have played National Lottery draws for the first time in the last four weeks.
Despite this, the lockdown period does not appear to have attracted many new consumers to gambling. According to YouGov research from 16-17 April, only 0.2% of all adults surveyed stated that they had started gambling for the first time during the last four weeks. This compares with 2% of adults who had stopped gambling altogether during this period.
A fuller picture of the National Lottery’s performance during this time should be available this week when Camelot releases its sales figures for April.
