A new lottery game gives winners up to £10,000 a month for the rest of their lives

A National Lottery sign is seen over the entrance of the newsagents where EuroMillions lottery winners Colin and Chris Weir bought their winning ticket in Largs, Scotland July 16, 2011.David Moir/Reuters

• Camelot is launching an annuity-style lottery which rewards winners with a monthly income for life rather than a lump sum.
• The reward could be worth up to £10,000 a month.

LONDON — Camelot, the UK’s largest lottery operator, is launching an annuity-style game which rewards winners with up to £10,000 a month for the rest of their lives.

Rather than winning a lump sum, winners would be rewarded with a monthly income. The group said in a statement the game would appeal to “the growing numbers of players who dream of long-term financial security rather than big jackpots.”

In the UK, a small number of lottery winners who became millionaires overnight blew their fortunes, but a Camelot spokesperson denied to the BBC that “binge spending” was a driving force behind the new game. There are also no plans to scrap the popular jackpot game.

It also represents a bid from Camelot’s new chief executive Nigel Railton to turn around the ailing fortunes of the firm. It saidticket sales for the six months from 1 April to 23 September 2017 were £3,280.4 million, a decrease of 3.2% on last year’s first-half performance.

Railton is reportedly keen on the annuity-idea, having run Camelot Global in Chicago, where monthly pay-outs are a regular feature of lotteries.

The new game is likely to be launched in 2019.