National Lottery ticket to double to £2 says Camelot

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Page last updated at 10:42 GMT, Thursday, 17 January 2013

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By Emma Brant
Newsbeat reporter National lottery logo

The cost of a lottery ticket is set to double in price later this year.

Operators Camelot say the increase to £2 for a single line will help it create more winners and help more charities. The prize for matching three numbers will go up from £10 to £25.

Prizes will be halved to £50,000 if you get five numbers and the bonus ball.

The firm says this is the first rise since the game was introduced 19 years ago and the extra revenue will mean more cash for charities.

It will stop our work syndicate chances of winning by half

Lottery player Stephen Wall

After carrying out research about the game, Camelot UK managing director Andy Duncan said: "Our players still love Lotto but after 18 years they say they want more from it.

"We've spoken extensively with them to develop a re-energised game."

The average Saturday jackpot will increase from around £4.1 million to £5 million and the Wednesday jackpot will increase from an estimated £2.2 million to around £2.5 million.

Gemma Atherton is one of a number of celebrities to have appeared on the TV draw

Lotto Rollover draws will also change, with the number of raffle prizes on offer increasing significantly with each roll of the jackpot.

Total National Lottery sales have increased by 35% since 2002, with the number of players growing by more than 12% in the last five years.

Players have also helped to raise more than £29 billion for Good Causes.

More than 1,000 players left angry messages about the price increase on the National Lottery Facebook page with many describing the increase as "greed."

On Newsbeat's Facebook page Stephen Wall said: "It will stop our work syndicate chances of winning by half."

David Roberts added: "I'll probably just buy one ticket every once in a while instead of two."

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