Britain’s national Lottery operator Camelot celebrated the anniversary of its first lottery draw yesterday with results revealing record half-year sales.

Camelot reported £2.7 billion in total sales for the six months to September 25, up 3.6 per cent on a year earlier and marking the highest interim revenues seen by the group.

The firm, which launched the first Lotto draw on November 19, 1994, said sales of draw-based games rose 3.2 per cent, while the launch of new scratchcards and online instant win games such as the 3D game Monopoly helped instant play sales rise by 4.8 per cent.