The National Lottery cited the continuation of a "difficult retail trading environment" as it announced a 6.8% decline in sales last year, according to its annual results, published yesterday.
Overall sales for 2013 were €685.2 million, down from sales of €735.1 million in 2012. The lottery provider also said that "a lack of significant jackpot rolls on both of the main draw games, Lotto and EuroMillions" was partly to blame for the decline in sales.
During 2013 the Lotto portfolio of games generated sales of €310.4 million, which represented 45% of the overall turnover. Within this category, Lotto sales were €229.5 million, down 9% compared to 2012, while overall, the level of Lotto jackpots was lower than the previous year.
Scratch card sales were up 2.5% to €167.7 million, however sales of EuroMillions were down 10.4% to €117.8 million.
"Overall, 2013 was a particularly good year for our players who were rewarded with prizes to the value of €382.7 million or 56% of sales," said Dermot Griffin, Chief Executive, National Lottery.
“Online play was the fastest growing area of our business in 2013, notwithstanding the cumbersome registration and advertising constraints. Throughout the year our player base grew by a further 17,000 players to 57,000 registered online players at the year end, a 40% increase on 2012’.
