National Lottery games will be rolled out to discounters and made available at self-checkout as part of Camelot’s strategy to revive the brand’s sales.

Following a strategic review announced in June this year, Camelot has announced a plan to drive National Lottery sales based on four key principles: investing to enhance its retail offering; improving its range of games; upgrading its digital capabilities; and reinvigorating the brand.

In order to “better reflect the different ways in which people are shopping”, Camelot has prioritised making National Lottery games available at self-checkout and in discounters whose market share has soared in recent years.

It will also double the size of its sales force to “help it forge stronger relationships” with its retail partners, and will invest £20m in retail initiatives aimed at boosting levels of engagement and improving in-store display, merchandising and game availability.

Camelot aims to differentiate its games by positioning EuroMillions, Lotto and Thunderball as distinct products, with prizes and prices to suit different needs and pockets.

It also plans to make changes to Lotto to give players a “better winning experience”, and is currently testing options which could be introduced without needing to change either the price or number matrix.

Camelot will introduce a Tuesday Thunderball draw next year to address the needs of players who value smaller, more frequent wins, and will launch EuroMillions HotPicks – a variation on its Lotto HotPicks game – in early 2018.

It has also pledged to improve players’ mobile experience and to invest in its digital platforms, while also placing greater marketing emphasis on promoting a ”more unified and overarching National Lottery parent brand”.

National Lottery sales fell year on year by 3.2% in the first half of 2017/18, in line with Camelot’s expectations.

Nigel Railton, who has been appointed as permanent CEO of Camelot, said: “Coming off the back of last year’s disappointing sales performance ­– and in the face of the very real threat posed by intensifying competition from the wider gambling sector, which benefits from significant taxation advantages, and continuing doubts over the economy – I don’t underestimate the challenge ahead of us. It is going to take some time to turn things around.

“However, given the areas for improvement that we’ve identified during the strategic review, Camelot’s impressive track record of success over the long term and the first-class team that I’ll be working with, 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.”