Poor ticket sales cancel £250k Jersey Sports Lottery

Monday 15 January 2018

The inaugural Jersey Sports Lottery, which aimed to raise up to £450,000 for 26 local clubs, has been cancelled due to insufficient ticket sales.

The inaugural Jersey Sports Lottery, which aimed to raise up to £450,000 for 26 local clubs, has been cancelled due to insufficient ticket sales.

The £250,000 top prize wasn't enough to catch the public’s interest. In a public statement announcing the cancellation, the club said: "It recently became apparent that after five months, ticket sales were nowhere near the levels required to meet the goal of selling 5,000 tickets by May."

The organising committee has contacted the Jersey Gambling Commission and it has been agreed that the Lottery will be closed down, with all ticket monies refunded.

A spokesman for the Lottery said: "We're disappointed that the slow rate of ticket sales left us with no realistic alternative than the decision we've taken. We apologise to those who'd bought tickets and will be refunding their money promptly."

The Lottery’s bank is currently arranging for payments made for the tickets to be re-credited directly to the buyer’s bank account. These refunds will be processed by the end of January. If any buyer does not receive the money to which they are entitled by 1 February, they should contact the organising committee by email sportslottery@jerseyreds.je.