Relaunched Lottery records lowest takings

Camelot predicted an end to declining National Lottery sales yesterday, despite suffering the lowest takings for a Saturday draw since the game's launch in 1994.

The company admitted that its results were disappointing, coming just weeks after it renamed its main draw Lotto and embarked on a £26m relaunch fronted by the comedian Billy Connolly.

Full-year results published today are expected to show a fall in sales for the fourth year running. But Camelot executives said the decline had begun to taper off in the second half of the year, prompting predictions that the National Lottery would increase weekly sales by March next year.

The figures come after Camelot's chief executive, Dianne Thompson, became embroiled in controversy after admitting players would be "lucky to win a tenner" – comments she insisted were taken out of context.

In a speech to marketing executives, she said that with odds of one in 14 million, the public had a slim chance of winning the jackpot. She said the slogan of "It could be you" had given false hope to players.

"Eight years later, people have realised that though it could be you, it probably won't be," she said.

Camelot admitted yesterday that reports of Ms Thompson's comments may have contributed to the slump in sales. But they speculated that confusion among players over a four-draws-for-£1 special offer designed to promote the first renamed Lotto draw two weeks ago could be to blame.

Sales for the main jackpot draw on Saturday were £44.6m, the lowest weekly total since the lottery was launched in November 1994. Camelot insisted its weekly sales of £88m, a figure including the Wednesday draw, Thunderball, Lotto Extra and scratchcards, were an average week.

Camelot, which narrowly avoided losing its licence to Sir Richard Branson 16 months ago, was confident that it had devised the perfect formula to entice Britain back to the game. But the figures take the shine off the start off the new advertising campaign, based around the slogan "Don't live a little, live a Lotto".

Yesterday Camelot insisted that it was early days for the relaunch and predicted that sales would stabilise and rise.

Ms Thompson admitted yesterday that the nation was suffering from "lottery fatigue". Writing in the Daily Mirror, she said: "I don't believe we will ever get back to that feverish excitement of 1994 but I am hopeful that with the relaunch and introduction of new games, people who have given up playing will come back."

Camelot is also hoping that a £14m revamp of lottery sales points in 36,000 shops later this year will reverse the slump.