Monday Lottery having problems

The recently launched Monday Lottery, owned by Chariot PLC, has announced that ticket sales have fallen short of expectations, and so revenue has been lower than their business plan required. The company plans to raise more funds through discounted share placing at 5p a share. At the launch in February shares were on sale at 115p, rose to 213p, and now they are worth just 8p.

Monday was heralded as an alternative to the National Lottery and aimed to give players a better chance of winning smaller amounts, whilst giving more money to specified charities. But the launch was marred by sales problems on line and the large salaries, share options and bonus schemes made available to Chariot’s directors. Company boss Suzanne Counsell, was awarded a 12.8% stake (2 million shares). Originally worth £2.2 million, they are now worth £163,200.

Chariot reported sales of 1.68 million tickets and has had 200,227 registrations on their website. So far it has raised £520,000 for the 20 charities who have been involved with the initial draws. A spokesperson has said "levels of ticket sales have fallen short of the board's expectatations. The income generated has been significantly less than projected and cannot sustain the company's original business plan". Now the company says it will have a new business plan and a significant reduction in overheads.

- 06/06/06