Letter: Camelot should charge new retailers the same

I too received a letter from Camelot (Retail Express, August 25).

I have a scratchcard terminal and I am paying £25 in fees. We don’t sell that many scratchcards, so this £25 is going from my pocket. I asked to remove my terminal but because of my contract I can’t do anything.

Now they are giving terminals for the Lotto but increasing operation fees to £50.

I just want to ask Camelot why they aren’t charging a penny to retailers who have had terminals for a long time. Why is this just for new ones? I have a couple of friends that have Lotto terminals and they aren’t paying a penny. Why are we? I don’t understand that why there’s a difference.

If they want to seriously do business they have to do something about fees. I am not ready to pay £600 from my pocket every year.

They have to make it clear that if you sell so many scratchcards and a certain amount of Lotto tickets that you earn a set amount of commission, so retailers have a clear idea of whether they can afford the fees or not. Doing it by percentage is too difficult to understand.

I don’t know what other retailers think, but £50 is a definite ‘no’ for me.

Pragneshbhai Patel, Jalaram News, London

A Camelot spokesperson responded: “As operator of The National Lottery, we exist to raise as much money as possible for Good Cause projects.

"With only a finite number of full Altura lottery terminals available, it’s crucial that we get the best return from each one. We don’t operate a ‘waiting list’. When an Altura terminal becomes available, we make a decision where to site it using our fair and rational selection policy. This takes into account over 40 separate criteria – such as population of an area, current and projected sales, footfall, store size, access, potential demand, and the attitude and enthusiasm of staff – as well as wider market trends and changes in the retail landscape.

“If a retailer already has a standalone scratchcard terminal, this has no bearing on whether they might be offered an Altura in future. In fact, one of the key benefits of the standalone scratchcard terminals is that they offer smaller retailers who wouldn’t ordinarily be suitable for an Altura terminal (because of lower turnover, footfall, etc.) the opportunity to have The National Lottery in-store.

"We are, however, currently giving scratchcard retailers the opportunity to sell tickets for National Lottery draw-based games (such as Lotto and EuroMillions) through their existing terminals from early next year – and it is absolutely up to each individual retailer to decide whether this is right for them.”