Petition launched to separate Jersey and Guernsey Christmas lotteries

Tuesday 09 January 2024

A petition calling for Jersey and Guernsey to have separate Christmas lotteries has gained over 500 signatures in just one week.

The petition was launched in Jersey by Daniel Allen who complained that "for at least the last few years, the top prize of the Christmas lottery has gone to Guernsey".

"All signing this petition want a separate lottery for both islands," he explained.

The most recent Christmas 2023 lottery marked the sixth year in a row that the winning ticket was sold in Guernsey.

The £500,000 prize went to a syndicate of 40 women, who each took home £12,500.

However, a total of 42 of the 67 drawn prizes – around three in five – were won in Jersey, including the second place prize of £50,000 and three of the five £10,000 prizes.

Jon Taylor, Senior Lottery Officer for the States of Guernsey, confirmed that "there are no plans to separate" to separate the two Channel Islands.

He said: "The Channel Islands Lottery is formed by joint legislation between Guernsey and Jersey and there are no plans to separate.

"However, we do carry out a review every year which we do collectively [between the States of Guernsey and Government of Jersey]."

Pictured: Jersey players have noted that the jackpot has been won in Guernsey for five years running, so far.

Mr Taylor confirmed that in 2023, there were a total of 398,850 tickets sold in Guernsey compared to 456,750 sold in Jersey.

Although a larger number of tickets were sold in Jersey, there was more enthusiasm for the lottery in Guernsey.

Jersey residents bought around four tickets each on average, compared to approximately six tickets per person in Guernsey.

Mr Taylor added that 2023 sales were approximately 6% down on the previous year.

Pictured: CI Christmas Lottery tickets used to be £1, then they doubled to £2 in 2013, increased again to £3 in 2018 and then dropped back down to £2 last year. 

A poll recently conducted by Express to find out why Channel Island Christmas Lottery ticket sales have dropped off revealed some of the reasons why sales have dropped over recent years.

Many Jersey respondents complained that "Guernsey always win" while others suggested "Jersey do their own one" and "a separate one for Jersey and Guernsey".

The topic of how the draw is made also came up, with one respondent saying there should be a "live draw" with the "top prize to be split between islands so that there is a winner in Jersey and one in Guernsey".

Suggestions of a "better distribution of prizes" were also made with one reply coming up with a detailed plan.

"Instead of one big sum, have three or four smaller top prizes. e.g. instead of £300,000: 3x £100,000. I would be more than happy if I won one of them."

Other suggestions – more common in the Guernsey replies than those from Jersey – were to scrap the local lottery entirely and allow National Lottery tickets to be sold here.

One person went a step further: "Bin it and join UK & Euro lotteries. Everything the States runs is a disaster now".

Pictured: The jackpot prizes for each of the last 13 years along with the ticket price for that year.

One of the most common responses across the poll when asked what would encourage ticket sales was reducing the cover price back to £1.

The CI Christmas Lottery had cost £1 for many years before the decision was made in 2012 to increase ticket prices to £2 before they went up again in 2018, to £3.

That coincided with the beginning of the decline in ticket sales and in 2022 ticket prices were reduced back down to £2. 

It seems that many readers would still like lottery tickets to cost £1, with that being a recurrent answer across both Jersey and Guernsey respondents.

Other respondents have said the £2 ticket should be kept with one even saying it should just be one number per ticket – "two numbers gives the same odds but is just annoying to check" and that the scratch card should be scrapped. 

You can sign the petition HERE.