Jackpots on some National Lottery scratchcards impossible to win
An investigation by the Guardian has found that the jackpots on many of the UK’s National Lottery scratchcards are impossible to win.
Customers are likely to be unaware how many of the jackpots on scratchcards are still up for grabs. © The Sun.
Each National Lottery scratchcard advertises how many of its jackpots exist to be won. However, what is not mentioned in shops around the country where the scratchcards are sold, is how many of the jackpots have been won already.
In many cases, all the jackpots have already been won, with customers not being told.
Research by the Guardian found that with the £250,000 Gold game, advertising stated that there are 15 top prizes of £250,000. However, what is not widely advertised is that but that 14 of those had already been claimed. The scratchcard costs £2.
The situation is similar with other games. For example, the Cash Vault scratchcard, which costs £3, has just one of its four £275,000 prizes remaining. Even worse is with the Millionaire 7s game, where none of the six £1m prizes remain. That scratchcard costs £5.
The Lottery does publish online how many prizes are left with each of its games. While this list is regularly updated, customers are not told in-store of their chances of winning when purchasing a National Lottery scratchcard.
Co-operative to launch their own scratchcards
The Lottery responded by saying that once all jackpots are claimed, no new scratchcards for that game can be put out and only ones currently displayed can be sold.
But the group have come under further pressure, regarding the contributions made to charitable causes from their income. Camelot donate on average around 10% to local good causes, but in many cases the figure is as low as 5%.
The co-operative group has responded to this news by launching its own scratchcards and promising to donate a minimum of 20% to local good causes. While the donations fare well in comparison to the National Lottery’s contributions, the sale of scratchcards by the Co-op is not without its own controversy.
Scratchcards are the UK’s second most popular form of gambling and sales are only increasing. This has brought the issue before parliament in recent months, with tales of scratchcard addiction emerging. Furthermore, the Co-op has always operated on an ethical and open basis and with its consumer co-operative ownership structure, could cause some rifts to emerge.
The Co-op says that its scratchcards will be sold in a socially responsible manner and will raise lots of money for good causes across the UK. A statement from the Co-op said:
These scratchcards will be sold in a socially responsible way, and we support responsible gambling through GambleAware, as with all the National Lottery cards sold at Co-op. – Spokesperson, Co-op Group.
