After publishing disappointing six-month financial results, the licensed operator of The National Lottery in the United Kingdom, Camelot UK Lotteries Limited, has announced that it has appointed Nigel Railton to serve as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Camelot UK Lotteries Limited revealed that overall ticket sales for the six months to the end of September had fallen by 3.2% year-on-year to stand at just over $4.35 billion while it had distributed $990.4 million to charities and good causes, which represented a decline of some 4.7%. The operator explained that it had moreover handed out slightly in excess of $2.47 billion in prize money to create 144 new millionaires during the six-month period and stated that it had now tasked Railton with ‘returning The National Lottery to growth’.

Jo Taylor, Chairman for Camelot UK Lotteries Limited, proclaimed that she was ‘delighted’ to see Railton appointed to the Chief Executive Officer post due to his ‘wealth of experience’ and the fact that he had just completed a ‘thorough strategic review’ into the operator’s business. She also declared that the new boss has ‘a proven track record and is passionate about the role that The National Lottery plays in society’ and would now implement ‘a clear execution plan to put the business on a path to responsible and sustainable growth’.

For his part, Railton described his latest job as ‘a privilege’ but that he did not ‘underestimate the challenge ahead of us’ as increased competition and continuing economic uncertainties mean that it may take a considerable amount of time ‘to turn things around’.

“I firmly believe that we have an excellent platform to get The National Lottery back where it should be next year; in growth, creating more winners than ever before and delivering even more money for the millions of people and thousands of communities for whom National Lottery funding is so crucial,” read a statement from Railton.