The Post Office has announced it will stop selling National Lottery tickets and scratchcards at one-fifth of its branches.
The move follows Allwyn Entertainment taking over from Camelot as the lottery operator.
Nine-hundred post offices across the UK will no longer sell draw tickets and scratchcards under the new 10-year licence.
There are 4,800 post offices in the UK, meaning that 19 per cent will not be selling lottery tickets and scratchcards.
Here is how we came to this point.
Why are some post offices stopping selling National Lottery tickets and scratchcards?
Post Office Limited decided to end its group contract with the National Lottery last year. This involved branch managers being given the choice of whether or not to sell tickets and scratchcards.
The Post Office used to cover the cost of the cards but now each brand pays for them.
Allwyn said hundreds of postmasters had chosen not to sign up to such an agreement, citing reasons including religious beliefs and low lottery sales.
Some postmasters have also mentioned the financial implications involved.
“We’d have ended up in a situation where we would’ve lost a significant amount of money,” said Calum Greenhow, who runs a post office in Scotland with his wife.
Lottery retailers are not allowed to sell tickets for draws without also selling scratchcards, under Gambling Commission licence rules.
Mr Greenhow, who is also the chief executive of the National Federation of SubPostmasters, said he would still be selling lottery tickets if it wasn’t for the scratchcards.
Post Office Limited said it “spent a year supporting postmasters to transition to the new lottery provider, including regular communication, support visits by area managers and drop-in sessions”.
The National Lottery is a Government-regulated gambling activity that allows people to purchase tickets for a chance to win cash prizes. The lottery was established in November 1994 to raise funds for good causes in sports, arts, heritage, health, education, and the environment.
It operates through various games, including Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball, and others. The revenue generated from ticket sales is distributed to different charitable projects and initiatives across the UK.
“We have taken advantage of a change in the ownership of the National Lottery to deliver more money for Postmasters. They now have independent retailer agreements with Allwyn, meaning Postmasters who sell National Lottery products will receive all sales commission, as our processing costs for sales are entirely removed. Postmasters had consistently told us that they wanted to work directly with the National Lottery.
A Post Office spokesman added: “Nearly 4,000 Post Offices that previously sold National Lottery products via our agreement with Camelot have successfully transitioned to Allwyn.
"We have spent a year supporting Postmasters to transition to the new lottery provider, including regular communication, support visits by Area Managers & drop in sessions in collaboration with the NFSP [National Federation of Sub Postmasters] to get Postmasters ready for the upcoming changes.
"Almost 900 Post Offices have not transitioned to the new provider. This could be for a variety of reasons including low sales and the Postmaster deciding to stop selling National Lottery products.”
