Richard Desmond’s controversial Health Lottery appears to have got around society lottery restrictions that effectively limit its jackpots to £100,000, by joining forces with high-street betting shop Coral to launch a new game offering a top prize of £1m.

Players of Health Lottery Plus can place a bet in Coral shops or on its website for as little as £1 – half the price of a National Lottery ticket from 3 October. Health Lottery Plus allows punters to bet on the Health Lottery’s five numbers and also choose an additional Million Pound Number for a chance to win £1m.

Coral’s director of communications Simon Clare said: “This is going to go down a storm. It will only be a matter of time before we are celebrating our first Coral Health Lottery Plus millionaire for just a £1 bet.”

Society lotteries are subject to rules that restrict prize pots to £25,000 or 10 per cent of gross ticket sales. Betting operators have no such limits.

Gambling regulator concerned

But the gambling regulator has already contacted Coral with its concerns about the game. It is worried that allowing bets on lottery draws is against the spirit of charity lotteries because players may think they are contributing to good causes when in fact they are merely giving their money to a private bookmaker.

A Gambling Commission spokesman said that offering betting on the outcome of lotteries is legal, except for the National Lottery, but it must be made clear to players that the game is a bet and not a lottery.

“The Commission is concerned on those grounds and is engaging with the betting operator concerned,” he said.

20 per cent to good causes

Coral said in a statement that it will contribute a share of the gross revenue to the good causes supported by the Health Lottery, though it did not say how much.  

A Health Lottery spokeswoman said the good-cause contribution is 20 per cent of all sales revenue, the same as for the Health Lottery itself. "The amount raised for good causes is exactly the same."

She said that Health Lottery Plus is Coral’s licensed product and a betting game which is “very clearly a bet on the outcome of the Health Lottery draw rather than a ticket for the draw itself”.

She added: “As the Gambling Commission itself makes clear, offering betting on the outcome of a lottery is legal, and we will continue to work with them as we always do.”

'We are not sidestepping rules'

She also strongly refuted any suggestion that the Health Lottery was using the game to circumvent the rules governing society lotteries:

"The Health Lottery continues to fully comply with all society lottery obligations and to suggest otherwise is simply incorrect. The Health Lottery Plus is a product offered by Coral and is not a society lottery product.

"The Health Lottery Plus is a well-established model under which a betting operator offers bets on the outcome of an event, in this case the numbers drawn by the Health Lottery. The launch of Health Lottery Plus means that even more money will be raised for good causes."

Head-to-head ad campaigns

Health Lottery Plus is being promoted this week through a TV and outdoor ad campaign.  The National Lottery, which is increasing its ticket price to £2 next week, has also just launched a £15m ad push for its Lotto game.

Camelot, which operates the National Lottery and has made no secret of its hostility to the Health Lottery since its launch two years ago, declined to comment on Health Lottery Plus today.