The latest rival to the National Lottery won't dramatically hurt in-store Lotto sales, according to retailers, current National Lottery organiser Camelot, and even the company behind the new game, Chariot UK.
The new online lottery game, called Monday, starts this month with the promise of better odds than the National Lottery, a guaranteed jackpot winner each week, and 30p in every pound going to a previously published list of charitable organisations.
Retailer Julia Northover, owner of Spencer Court News in Corby, Northamptonshire, said that as long as Chariot did not make a move into terminals she was not too worried.
Julia said: "I have had a few enquiries from customers about buying tickets but when I tell then that they are only available online, they seem to lose interest."
Chariot UK spokesman Stuart Handley said that Monday was "an alternative" hoping to attract those who had stopped playing lotteries because of concerns over their chances of winning and those who receive charity handouts. He confirmed Chariot had no intention of moving the game into the retail sector.
A Camelot spokesman said: "There are a variety of society lotteries already and the National Lottery has happily co-existed alongside them for the past 12 years."
Meanwhile, Handley denied aiming to cause offence to independent retailers in the first TV commercial for Monday, in which a retailer is lampooned and viewers are urged not to purchase lottery tickets from 'purveyors of cow juice'.
He said: "Independent retailers have a great role to play and the ad was only meant to emphasis the online nature of the game."