The National Lottery has been around since late 1994 and fast became one of the most popular ways to gamble in the United Kingdom. It’s still to this very day the form of gambling that takes precedent over others in the popularity stakes, but it seems that recently the ordinary folk in the United Kingdom have started to slowly fall out of love with the lottery for various reasons. It’s been responsible for making millionaires for the last 23 years, but why does it seem the love affair is about to end?
Camelot, who are the operators of the National Lottery, reported that sales had nosedived by 9% last year and this suggested that even though prior to that the company had recorded one of its best performances since launching in the early 90s, that interest in the lottery was starting to decline. While the fall in sales can probably still be rectified by Camelot attempting to re-engage with players, there are quite a few reasons why the decline could continue.
First of all, the National Lottery was always just the National Lottery, but over time other games have been added; and there are also other lotteries too. This has really seen the attention kind of move away from the main game itself, with many people now preferring to play other types of lottery games such as Euro Millions. Many people, especially those who have played for many years, will probably have lost interest because they simply feel their luck will never be in. Yes, most will have won a small cash prize here and there, but life changing amounts are few and far between.
There’s also been the rapid rise of popular betting sites such as Unibet too. People have always loved sports and betting on them online has become hugely popular. Whether it’s betting on football, horse racing, cricket or even something obscure such as eSports, this is going to be the most popular way to gamble in the UK and it will be the dominating force for many years to come. Betting sites offer so much more than the National Lottery and lotteries in general. Furthermore, with ever increasing coverage of sports on television, this has only served to make sports betting even more popular than ever before.
The selling point for the National Lottery has always been a case of it being very simple, cheap and then hoping to win the jackpot. The highest payout has been £161,653,000 but the odds of winning the jackpot currently stand at 45,057,474/1. This is one of the main reasons people are now preferring to bet in different ways because the odds of them being a winner more regularly are a lot more in their favour. The National Lottery could rise again but the likelihood is that sports betting with online and mobile betting sites will start to assert its dominance on the industry. So the guys at Camelot will have to be at their very best to ensure the Lottery keeps its appeal and mystery.
