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| National Lottery Lotto ticket price doubles to £2 | National Lottery Lotto ticket price doubles to £2 |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| The cost of a National Lottery Lotto ticket has doubled to £2. | The cost of a National Lottery Lotto ticket has doubled to £2. |
| The rise, the first since the lottery started in 1994, is part of a package of changes including bigger prizes, says operator Camelot. | The rise, the first since the lottery started in 1994, is part of a package of changes including bigger prizes, says operator Camelot. |
| Prizes for matching three numbers will rise from £10 to £25. Average jackpots are predicted to rise to around £5m on Saturdays and £2.5m on Wednesdays. | Prizes for matching three numbers will rise from £10 to £25. Average jackpots are predicted to rise to around £5m on Saturdays and £2.5m on Wednesdays. |
| Camelot says this will mean more money for charities. It has raised £30bn for "good causes" since 1994. | Camelot says this will mean more money for charities. It has raised £30bn for "good causes" since 1994. |
| Some other prizes will be reduced. Camelot estimates that the reward for matching five balls plus the bonus ball will average £50,000 instead of £100,000. | Some other prizes will be reduced. Camelot estimates that the reward for matching five balls plus the bonus ball will average £50,000 instead of £100,000. |
| The prize for matching five balls is expected to average £1,000 instead of £1,500, while the average for matching four balls is expected to go up from £60 to £100. | |
| Extra numbers printed on lottery players' tickets will be entered for a raffle with prizes of £20,000. | Extra numbers printed on lottery players' tickets will be entered for a raffle with prizes of £20,000. |
| 'Needed fixing' | |
| Camelot UK managing director Andy Duncan told the BBC's Today Programme the main objective of the changes was to "re-energise Lotto". | |
| "The prizes haven't changed for 19 years and this is a way of actually giving players more opportunities to win more money," he said. | |
| He said the National Lottery had grown by 50% over the last 10 years, with games like Euromillions and scratch cards adding to the portfolio. | |
| About 50% of the population play the National Lottery once a month, he added. | |
| Professor Ian Walker of Lancaster's Department of Economics told the BBC people had been "falling out of love with Lotto since the mid 1990s". | |
| He said the real value of Lotto sales had fallen by more than 60% over the last 15 or 16 years and "Lotto had needed fixing for a while". | |
| The £2 price was bound to have an impact on ticket sales, he added. | |
| Total National Lottery sales have increased by 35% since 2002, when the game was officially renamed Lotto. Some 30 million tickets are reportedly bought every Saturday. | Total National Lottery sales have increased by 35% since 2002, when the game was officially renamed Lotto. Some 30 million tickets are reportedly bought every Saturday. |