Channel Islands Christmas Lottery looking to change format

Organisers of the islands’ annual Christmas lottery are considering introducing separate prizes for Guernsey and Jersey.

The Channel Islands.- The organisers of the annual Channel Islands Christmas Lottery are reportedly considering changing the annual draw’s format to introduce separate big money prizes in Guernsey and Jersey. The idea is a response to a 6 per cent drop in ticket sales last year.

The current format involves tickets with two numbers, but organisers are considering changing to a simpler system with one draw number per ticket. They say that the odds of winning would remain the same.

“In both cases, the odds of winning are the same – the odds would depend on the number of tickets bought, not the number of draw numbers,” they said.

The lottery would also scrap the instant win scratch card portion of the tickets, which would allow for two £100,000 second prizes – one in Guernsey and the other in Jersey. A survey has suggested that ticket sales have fallen in Jersey because of a five-year run of Guernsey ticketholders scooping the jackpot, leading to a belief that the top prize is always won by someone in Guernsey.

However, lottery organiser Jon Taylor insisted that the Channel Islands’ Christmas lottery was still “immensely popular”, selling close to a million tickets in 2022.

He said, as quoted by ITV: “The proceeds from all scratchcard sales throughout the year are distributed to good causes and the lottery has raised millions over the last few years. The Christmas game is an important part of this and we want to ensure it remains so for years to come, so keeping it relevant and attractive to islanders is paramount.”

Allwyn sets eyes on Irish National Lottery

Meanwhile, media reports suggest that the Czech Republic’s Allwyn Entertainment is looking to acquire the Irish National Lottery.

Allwyn has already bought the British National Lottery operator Camelot UK from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) ahead of its own assumption of the next lottery licence in 2024. Now it apparently has its sights on Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI), which also belongs to the Canadian pension program.

Rumours of a possible sale of the Irish National Lottery began last month, after the OTPP also offloaded its US-based Camelot Lottery Solutions to Allwyn. The Financial Times and the Irish Times have reported that Allwyn will again be the likely buyer. They say it’s working with UBS bankers to target a 90 per cent purchase of PLI.