Camelot plots mega Lotto database

Camelot is poised to kick start a search for a database marketing firm to build one of the biggest customer databases in the UK, and get closer to the estimated 32 million people who play the Lottery each week.
Revealing plans to embrace data-driven marketing for the first time in an interview with The Sunday Times, UK managing director Andy Duncan said the firm will “invest a lot of time, money and energy” in building a giant customer database to help with Camelot’s marketing.
He said: “Some 70% of the adult population plays the lottery but we don’t know who they are. We don’t even know much about the 5 million people playing online.”
Duncan also wants to use the database to allow targeted special offers.
The company has been running the lottery since 1994, having retained the licence twice – in 2001 and 2004 – but this is the first time it has decided to build data on who is playing.
Duncan added: “The vast majority of our players think the idea of having special offers, hearing more about what we are doing, being able to get a results service, would be really useful.”
The National Lottery undertook a major rebranding programme in 2002 designed to combat falling sales. The main game was renamed Lotto, and the National Lottery Extra became Lotto Extra. In the 12 months to March 2014, Camelot generated sales of more than £6.7bn – the second highest figure since it launched 20 years ago.