Somehow it took nearly two weeks for one lucky winner to realise they had scooped the whopping £83.4m EuroMillions jackpot on January 24.
Mystery will surround the lucky winner before they receive a payout, but something even more unknown has come out of a recent freedom of information (FOI) request about the National Lottery.
Last month the Gambling Commission released a list (accurate to June 10, 2024) of current active UK National Lottery retailers.
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Curiously, four pharmacies appeared on the list.
Lotto operator Allwyn told C+D that while the National Lottery hasn’t historically been sold in pharmacies, there isn’t any reason why this couldn’t be possible going forward. It says it works with WHSmith stores in hospitals that offer Lotto tickets, so being situated within a healthcare premises isn’t entirely uncommon.
A spokeswoman for Allwyn also said it has “ambitious plans to expand distribution for The National Lottery with new and alternative sales outlets and technology. It’s crucial we’re reflecting how and where people shop in an ever-changing retail landscape”.
That “ever-changing retail landscape” certainly covers pharmacies, which increasingly sell beauty products and other health-related items you might find in a supermarket.
But is gambling – albeit in the shape of a family-friendly format like Lotto – suitable for pharmacy?
“Cheapens the profession”
It partly comes down to whether pharmacies should operate “purely as healthcare spaces or if they are evolving into hybrid healthcare-retail models,” says pharmacist and solicitor Thorrun Govind.
“Selling lottery tickets doesn’t necessarily align with the core mission of promoting health,” says Govind. “But it depends on how you define the role of a pharmacy. Traditionally pharmacies are seen as healthcare providers rather than retail businesses. However, many pharmacies already sell non-health-related products, so it’s not entirely unprecedented.”
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Community pharmacist Ben Merriman tells C+D it’s “not appropriate” in the “same way that pharmacies don’t sell tobacco or alcohol for pharmacists to be selling products that are essentially gambling products”.
“A bog-standard pharmacy selling lottery tickets, that does concern me,” he says. “It cheapens the look of the profession.”
Boundaries
So what do the pharmacies with lottery terminals think?
At least two of them operate within a Post Office or convenience store.
C+D spoke to one of the pharmacies, which suggested if supermarkets can have a pharmacy in the same premises where they sell gambling products like the National Lottery, why should a community pharmacy not be able to do the same?
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But Merriman feels that in supermarkets, there does seem to be “a clear boundary” separating pharmacies from counters selling gambling products.
“You don’t buy your groceries at the pharmacy counter, and you don’t pay for your pharmacy products at the normal checkout,” he says. “There is a distinct difference between the two.”
He also points out that to remain financially viable, retailers in rural locations may combine their services with a pharmacy.
“It may well be that a pharmacy, a post office, or a convenience store on its own isn’t viable, but by all three being there that may give independence to smaller towns or villages as long as those things can be separated and segregated.”
Diverse income streams
One of the National Lottery registered pharmacies C+D spoke to said Lotto sales can help to diversify their income as the sector continues to battle financial pressures.
Perhaps any ethical concerns are outweighed by the financial imperative to stay in business – a pharmacy selling Lotto tickets is better than no pharmacy at all.
Allwyn told C+D that for its 40,000 retailers, draw-based games like Lotto and EuroMillions pays 5% commission for each sale and 6% is paid on each Scratchcard sold. National Lottery commission has paid retailers £8 billion to date, so far.
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Merriman says he isn’t surprised he has heard of National Lottery products being sold in a pharmacy as they explore other income streams.
“They’re having to look at other ways to make money, because at the end of the day, it’s money that pays for mortgages, pays for children’s clothes, and pays for overheads. And as things are, pharmacies are going to be closing, and people are going to be out to work.
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“I appreciate the way the community pharmacy contractual framework has been paid over the last eight to ten years and the 40% reduction in real terms of our funding has led to some pharmacies having to diversify,” he says.
But he remains unconvinced that selling Lotto tickets is the way to mitigate financial concerns.
Gambling help
This ethical debate around whether a pharmacy is a suitable location to buy gambling products was brought into focus recently through guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) last month.
NICE recommends that healthcare professionals, including community pharmacists, should “consider asking people about gambling when speaking to them about smoking and alcohol consumption during a health check”.
In response, Merriman says it is “right that gambling should be considered” when speaking to a patient about their lifestyle because it could have a “significant impact on somebody’s mental health as well as the health and well-being of their loved ones”.
But though the NICE guidance represents something of a moral quandary for a lottery retailing pharmacist, are any ethical concerns about gambling in a community pharmacy alleviated by the National Lottery’s positive use in the community of the income it receives?
An Allwyn spokesperson says players generate an “incredible £30 million for good causes every week, and since 1994, they’ve raised over £50 billion for good causes”.
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“That money has funded over 700,000 individual projects across the UK, spanning causes across arts, sport, heritage and community.”
Good causes are part of what Allwyn looks at when assessing new retailers to sell National Lottery products, as it wants a “strong case for how much they can deliver annually in sales and the associated returns to good causes”.
Conflict
Ultimately it comes down to whether pharmacies should operate as a standalone healthcare space or evolve more into the “hybrid healthcare-retail models” that Govind spoke of.
“Should they prioritise financial sustainability at the risk of potential ethical concerns?” she says. “It’s a tricky balance.”
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It’s true that the commission from Lotto products isn’t going to make the average pharmacist as rich as that lucky Euromillions winner. And there will be some community pharmacists who feel the combination of scratchcards and scripts is just not right.
But others might consider the Lotto a very family friendly flutter that isn’t out of place in any UK retail environment. And perhaps more importantly, for an under-pressure community pharmacist in 2025, every footfall driver is a relative jackpot.