EXCLUSIVE: Subpostmaster remuneration on National Lottery sales to increase by 1%

Post Office (PO) retailers are to receive the same remuneration levels as other National Lottery partners, representing a 1% increase.

PO’s existing relationship with the National Lottery will end in February 2024 following Allwyn’s takeover of the service. This means subpostmasters have a deadline of 18 December to complete paperwork notifying the operator of their intention to continue offering National Lottery in their stores.

Better Retailing understands the deal means subpostmasters will no longer pay a 1% admin fee taken off remuneration levels as part of PO’s existing contract with outgoing operator Camelot. Subpostmasters currently receive 4% remuneration on draw-based sales, and 5% on scratchcards.

One PO retailer told Better Retailing: “Post Offices under the Allwyn contract will now receive the same remuneration levels as other retailers. It represents a 20-25% increase in returns, depending on your sales mix.”

However, the new deal also means subpostmasters will be unable to return unsold scratchcards to PO. The retailer added: “This is causing concern for some post offices that are perhaps selling lower volumes. Bigger sites can generally sell through scratchcards more quickly.”

An Allwyn spokesperson said: ‘Post Offices play a vital role in their communities and an increase in National Lottery sales commission is great news for these retailers. In addition to increased commission, we’ll be supporting them to maximise sales opportunities for Scratchcards and draw-based games, and in 2024 they’ll have the opportunity to sign up to The Retailer Hub. This helps retailers get the most from selling National Lottery products and, ultimately, increase their sales and commission.”

A Post Office spokesperson said: “It’s good news that those Postmasters who continue selling National Lottery products will benefit from increased remuneration. As we said when we first wrote to Postmasters back in February, with Post Office no longer being directly involved with the National Lottery there wouldn’t be any processing costs and so Postmasters receive all the sales commission.”