Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery, has announced that ticket sales for the first half of the 2017/18 financial year were down by 3.2% on last year’s first-half performance to £3.2bn. As a result of this “disappointing sales performance” Camelot’s direct returns for good causes fell by 4.7% to £746.6m. This will impact on the amount of funding available for the Heritage Lottery Fund.