UK national lottery operator considers shift in focus to entice younger generation wanting to get on to housing ladder

The national lottery operator, Camelot, is considering introducing a prize of up to £10,000 a month for life in the hope of enticing a younger generation of players seeking financial security so they can afford to buy a home.

As it revealed an overall drop in ticket sales, Camelot said it could shift its focus away from big jackpots towards an “annuity-style game”, in which the prize would continue to pay out until death.

“We want to get new people into the game,” the Camelot chief executive, Nigel Railton, told the Daily Telegraph. “Our research tells us that more people these days want financial security. The younger generation are finding it difficult to get on the housing ladder and they want prizes that help with this.”

Other planned changes include the introduction of a Tuesday Thunderball draw for players “who value smaller, more frequent wins”.

The shift in focus comes at a time when increasing numbers of people in the UK find it harder to buy their first property, are struggling with rising private rents and battling a squeeze on finances driven by increasing inflation.

Young people are the least likely demographic group to play the lottery. Nonetheless, last week a London estate agent caused controversy by suggesting that young people should stop buying tickets to help them afford a deposit.

Camelot announced a 3.2% drop in overall ticket sales on last year’s first-half performance to £3.2bn for the six months to 23 September. This follows a fall in total ticket sales of 8.8% to £6.9bn for 2016-17, from a record £7.5bn the previous year.

Railton said: “A fall in sales is never welcome but, as we announced in June, we did anticipate a further sales decline this year – so our performance over the half-year is in line with expectations.”