Health Lottery pulls plug on 10,000 more outlets

The Health Lottery has withdrawn from 10,000 stores, saying the move was essential to maintaining an “appropriate network”.

The news was revealed by Donald Macrae, who advises the Health Lottery on regulatory compliance. Speaking at the House of Commons, Macrae said the Health Lottery had “not proved a commercially attractive model”.

Most of the 10,000 stores are independent, although “there were some multiples”, according to Jack Heard, Health Lottery public relations and events co-ordinator.

He said the latest “store revocations” followed a reduction of 1,000 in May. During the past two years, almost 2,000 stores have been cut due to “failing to display mandatory materials”.

As well as non-compliance with promotional materials, the cut-off for “unsatisfactory” sales would be under £5 per week, per store, added Heard, a figure that would earn retailers just 25p through the standard 5% commission.

Independent retailers were unsurprised at the news and said the Health Lottery needed to push and promote its offering, setting targets to incentivise them.

“We’re not actively selling it so we probably wouldn’t miss it,” said Shrewsbury retailer Rav Garcha. “We don’t take the time over it, although we do with the National Lottery as we have targets to meet.”

Spar retailer David Nattriss agreed. He said: “We sell around 50 a week but, to be honest, we don’t go out of our way to promote it because the margin is poor.”

Has the Health Lottery been pulled from your store? How will it affect you? Leave your comments below.