Fast Pay set for national roll-out

With the firm reporting annual ticket sales in excess of £5bn, chief executive Dianne Thompson said the system, which allows lottery players to buy their ticket through a swipe card at the point of sale, was helping drive a third successive year of sales growth.

In a timely announcement coinciding with Camelot’s bid preparations for a third lottery licence, Thompson said Fast Pay had helped overall retail sales rise by 2.23% and added the firm was now in negotiations to introduce the technology into other retail outlets.

More worryingly perhaps for retailers was the news that Camelot’s interactive mobile phone and internet sales also grew strongly last year, with sales up £127m to £215m.

Thompson said interactive sales “more than doubled” in the past year and was now taking an average of £4m a week in sales.

She added that should Camelot be successful in its bid to continue running the lottery, it would replace all 26,200 ticket terminals – in line with the Government’s stipulations – for new terminals with “different functionality”.