For online casino and lottery operators, 2020 presented a minefield of challenges and a pathway to real success. On the one hand, casino and lottery operators had to be very careful not to take advantage of locked down players who were desperate for entertainment options. On the other hand, the complete lack of land-based competitors presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build significant revenue during a worldwide economic collapse.
UK National Lottery operator Camelot was able to navigate this tightrope over the course of 2020 and has turned in some astonishingly impressive H1 revenue numbers. According to a report in the Financial Times, Camelot raked in more than £1.62 billion ($2.1 billion USD) in the six months ending in September from digital sales. This represents an increase of £455 million ($605 million USD) from the same period last year. Of course those digital sales were accompanied by some pretty dismal retail numbers, but in 2020 most companies will take what they can get when it comes to revenue.
In a statement to the press that was posted on the Camelot digital lottery site, Andy Duncan, Chief Executive of Camelot UK Lotteries Limited crowed about the sales saying, “The National Lottery is all about changing lives – for the hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries of lottery funding and for all of the winners we create. Having raised almost £1.8 billion for National Lottery projects and awarded over £4 billion in prize money to our players during the year, we’re delivering on that promise.
“Our success will continue to be driven by our focus on digital transformation, innovation, and offering our players an enhanced game portfolio and even greater convenience. We want to build on this year’s record-breaking performance, and deliver even more for winners and society in the years to come.”
The question for companies like Camelot now is how much support they continue giving their retail concerns once the pandemic ends?