Lottery described as “success” despite low ticket sales

Thursday 22 December 2022

This year's CI Christmas Lottery draw is over and despite the smallest jackpot for a decade, and a fall of 7% in ticket sales, organisers have branded it a “success".

For the fifth year running, the first-prize ticket of the annual Channel Islands lottery was purchased in Guernsey, with the winner claiming the £545,118 jackpot.

While this is still “a life-changing amount of money” according to Senior Lottery Officer Jon Taylor, this year’s first prize is the lowest since 2008. Last year, first prize was £631,000. 

This low figure is partly because of the increasing number of prizes. Every year, the Channel Islands' lottery is reviewed, with organisers asking retailers and members of the public to gauge how they would like to see the lottery run. 

Pictured: This year’s first prize is the smallest since 2008.

A consistent piece of feedback received by organisers has been that the public want more prizes up for grabs. Unfortunately, more winners means a smaller first-prize.

Jon Taylor, the Senior Lottery Officer, said: “Every year we reflect on how we can adjust the lottery for the benefit of the public, and as a result the lottery has evolved over time as we try to generate an increase in sales…Now, as a result of the research we did and the response from the public, there’s lots more prizes. Other than the first-prize, there’s lots of other prizes that that people tend to forget about, substantial prizes as well.” 

However, this doesn’t account for everything. Not only has the cost of producing the lottery tickets gone up since 2020, sales have also been declining. 7% fewer tickets were sold this year than the previous year across both islands.

Pictured: Jon Taylor, the Senior Lottery Officer for the Channel Island's Lottery.

Jon Taylor said: “We have had a decline over the years, but there are wider economic forces at play… We are fighting for people’s pound… People don’t go and pay £50 a time for a lottery, we don’t live in that world anymore.”

Despite this, Mr Taylor was still positive about this year’s draw: “It’s been a success as far as we are concerned…we are delighted that the lottery still has a place in the hearts of some islanders. Obviously, we would like to see that be the case for more islanders."

More importantly, the lottery is still generating large amounts of money for good causes. Based on estimated figures, this year’s lottery is set to raise approximately £1.6 million to be distributed across both islands. 

The review process for this year’s lottery will likely begin in March 2023.