Corona has had the world under control for over half a year now. A lot of what we believed was set in stone for eternity has been turned upside down or has disappeared. Everybody is directly affected by the effects of the pandemic. No matter whether it is that your favorite restaurant has closed, a long-awaited concert has been canceled or a visit to the supermarket has turned into an obstacle course.
Also, more and more people are feeling the financial implications of what is happening. Of course, this also has an impact on the way the lottery is played around the world.
Do you gamble less when uncertainty increases, and money becomes scarcer?
Is lotto being played differently because the actual shop where the ticket is bought is closed?
Even if there are completely different needs in other areas, it is interesting to see what effect Covid-19 is having on gambling in Great Britain.
Playing Lotto during Corona
Let’s start with the good news for lottery players. While all physical forms of games, e.g. in gambling halls, have been banned, all National Lottery draws since the beginning of the corona outbreak have been carried out as planned. Albeit in some cases with restrictions.
There was a temporary limit for playing EuroMillions in advance. At one point, the maximum was two games. Now you can play eight draws (for four weeks) in advance.
Donations
There are also good news for everyone who depends on the lottery company donations. The percentage of the National Lottery income that is used for social and charitable causes has not been affected. It’s still at 28 per cent, which is around £30 million a week
What has changed is how lottery is played
During lockdown, like other stores, all lottery acceptance points were also closed. It was no longer possible to pop round to your local shop, hand in your tickets and enjoy a quick chat. For retailers this is still an economic catastrophe because the fees to which they were entitled to have vanished.
The alternative for players was obvious. Play remote, i.e. online or, as with Yourlottoservice, by phone. Conversations with our employees have never been more important than in the weeks of forced isolation. For some players they were often the only human contact they had during the day.
In this challenging corona time, the importance of interpersonal contacts strengthens us all the more in our business model. This means using the phone and talking to each other, which removes gambling from sober internet anonymity.
Playing Lottery online has increased significantly
As in so many other areas of life, corona has also given digital lottery an enormous boost. However, in the past financial year, lottery operators had already recorded a tendency towards increased remote gambling. Although sales increased considerably, only a small proportion was generated by retailers, despite many new offers being made there.
Not only have sales switched from haptic use to digital, but the mobile gambling business in particular has gone through the roof. By the end of March, i.e. in the first tough phase of the corona wave, the mobile sales of a competitor, for example, had increased by three fifths compared to the same period of the previous year.
What about the social aspects?
But what about those who are dependent on the social interaction of the large lottery community?
Supporting social and cultural institutions that are important for society, not least for its weakest members is one of the great lottery solidarity principles. This group has become significantly larger due to corona. Survey results published by the government’s Gambling Commission show that corona has an impact on the mental health of 25 per cent of the people surveyed. 26 per cent of adults have developed pronounced feelings of loneliness and 40 per cent have experienced a real loss of income.
In view of the development of the corona pandemic, the National Lottery Community Fund had stated that it wants to act as flexibly as possible to help overcome the crisis. Well over £300 million have already been donated to support the people, initiatives and projects that are most threatened by a lockdown: the elderly, food banks, projects to promote health or to avoid isolation.
The commitment and sense of responsibility of the lottery community for people in need is exemplified in the sales figures of a competitor. When it became known that £600 million had been donated to the coronavirus aid campaign in the previous month, sales exploded: in the run-up to the next draw, players purchased tickets worth £20,000 – per minute.
Play Lotto in a syndicate
With the next Corona wave about to roll over Europe, face to face sales of lottery tickets will become more difficult again.
However, as mentioned above already, we will gladly talk to you on the phone. Give us a call today and we will discuss the best options for you.
Just in case: if you are wondering what a Lotto Syndicate is and how it works, you might want to check out this article here. For any additional questions you might have, you can check our FAQ-page, or – the fastest way to get answers – call us.