Camelot has announced a drop in first half National Lottery sales compared to the same period last year, although early analysis has revealed a 60% boost in EuroMillions sales since higher ticket prices and bigger jackpots were introduced in September.

National Lottery ticket sales were £3.39bn from April 1 to September 24, generating direct returns to Good Causes of £783m. This was below record-breaking sales of £3.6bn and returns of £875m respectively for the corresponding six months last year.

In addition to the reported 60% sales boost, EuroMillions has seen one jackpot of £153m and, in less than two months, a further 44 guaranteed UK prizes of £1m since prices rose at the end of September.

Sales across the National Lottery’s digital channels grew to a record £726m over the half-year and were particularly strong through mobile, where sales climbed by 13.5%.

The National Lottery’s GameStore range of online and in-store instant play games also performed strongly, with sales growing to a first-half high of £1.43bn following the launch of a series of new games.

Andy Duncan, Camelot CEO, said: “Despite the challenges we’ve faced over the last six months, our performance over the half-year still represents one of our best since the National Lottery’s launch in 1994 and returning over £2.7bn to Good Causes and players in just six months is no small achievement.

“With the current climate of economic uncertainty and signs that consumers are being more cautious with their spending, we expect the next six months to be similarly challenging. We’re also seeing no let-up in the direct, often aggressive, competition we’re facing from the wider gambling sector, especially from bet-on-lottery firms purporting to offer the same products as the National Lottery and from large ‘umbrella-style’ society lotteries. But, with some great plans lined up, there’s still all to play for in the second half of the year and we’ll be doing everything we can to deliver even more for our players and for the millions of people for whom National Lottery funding is so vital.”

Total annual National Lottery sales growth of almost 50% since the start of Camelot’s third licence in 2009.