Camelot announced National Lottery ticket sales of £3.46bn ($4.5bn) for the six months ended 29 September, an increase of £175.9m year-on-year.

The result follows a wide-ranging strategic review conducted by the operators in 2017.

Camelot’s performance in the half-year period saw it generate £793.2m, excluding investment returns, for good causes.   

Camelot CEO Nigel Railton said: “Thanks to the work we’ve been carrying out following our comprehensive review of the business, we’ve made a very positive start to the financial year across the board.

“Delivering more than £2.8bn to good cause projects, players and retailers in just six months is a fantastic achievement and underlines the massive difference that the National Lottery continues to make to the lives of people and communities throughout the UK.

During this period, the National Lottery’s sales from digital channels grew to a record £831.4m, an increase of £77.4m.

This was driven by a more diverse game range, improved merchandising and the launch of a full version of its Android app.

Mobile sales increased by £99.8m to £431.6m, with sales through smartphones and tablets now accounting for over 50% of all digital sales.

Railton said: “While there is much work still to do – and while we’ll continue to face challenges that are beyond our control, such as economic uncertainty and unrelenting competition from both the gambling sector and industrial scale society lotteries that operate on a national basis – I’m very encouraged by the further progress we’ve made over the first half of this year.” 

Camelot spent 4% of total revenue on operations, making it one of the most cost-efficient lotteries in Europe.