Camelot UK Lotteries has announced record National Lottery sales of £4,063.9 million for the first six months of the 2022/23 financial year (1 April to 24 September 2022), breaking the £4 billion mark for the first time in the company’s 28-year operation of The National Lottery and outperforming last year’s total by £102.5 million (+2.6%).

The record performance resulted in the best-ever first-half returns to Good Causes of £956.5 million – up £72 million (+8.1%) on last year – taking the total generated for Good Causes since The National Lottery launched in 1994 under Camelot to £47 billion. 

The record half-year – driven by record digital sales – maintains the impressive growth that Camelot has delivered over the last five years as a result of the company offering great consumer choice in a safe and convenient way. Encouraging millions of people to “play a little” has also ensured that The National Lottery remains resilient despite the more challenging economic climate. In total, more than 32 million people played National Lottery games over the period, with average weekly spend across all games and channels broadly in line with last year.

Camelot Chairman, Sir Hugh Robertson, welcomed the results: “I am delighted that these record results show that The National Lottery is returning more to Good Causes than ever before. In this hugely testing economic period, I am proud that my team’s remarkable performance builds on previous years of record ticket sales and returns to Good Causes – and extends our track record of delivering for people across the UK. With just over a year to run until the start of the next licence period, I am confident that The National Lottery has never been in better shape.”

In total, the National Lottery awarded £2,303.1 million in prize money to players over the first six months of the year – up £28.6 million – and created 169 new millionaires. These included the UK’s three biggest-ever winners, all of whom won on EuroMillions: an anonymous ticket-holder who scooped the record-breaking £195 million jackpot in July; Joe and Jess Thwaite who landed £184 million in May; and another anonymous ticket-holder who won £171 million in September.