Even though we are in the midst of the longest running economic slowdown in modern-day history, sales of National Lottery tickets have hit an all-time high of £6.9 billion from between March 2012 to February 2013, helping to generate a record return of £1.9 billion for good causes.
According to the National Lottery operator Camelot, sales of National Lottery products, such as tickets and scratchcards, were up 2.4% year-on year and more than £3.6 billion was paid out in prizes over this period.
Findings from OMD UK’s Future of Britain study of 2,000 nationally representative respondents, show that 2.5% of those surveyed have started gambling more due to the recession. But for 16-24s, who are the group that have found the recession the most stressful, this figure rises to 5.3%.
The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 18.6% of under-24 year old’s are currently unemployed, which is almost 2.5 times the national average. Could it be that a lot of people in this age group are pinning their future hopes on winning the Lotto?