About the Channel Islands Lottery

Every time you play the Channel Island (CI) Lottery games, you are helping to contribute towards an important role in supporting and inspiring Channel Island communities.

The instant games, distributed exclusively in the Channel Islands contributes over £3million annually towards charity and good causes in Jersey and Guernsey. 

We hope you enjoy the games and please play responsibly.

History

The ’70s

The Channel Islands Lottery was founded in 1975 with the merger of the Jersey Lottery and the Guernsey Lottery. The Jersey Lottery was established in 1966 and the Guernsey Lottery in 1971. The game is the oldest lottery in the British Isles, beating Ireland (1987) and the United Kingdom (1994). 

Jersey’s share of the profits from the lottery were initially used to finance the transformation of Fort Regent into a sports and entertainment complex. On the completion of that project, the States of Jersey agreed that the Jersey part of the profits from the Channel Islands Lottery should be applied to charitable purposes, through the Association of Jersey Charities. Likewise, Guernsey utilised lottery revenues to build Beau Sejour Leisure Centre and now distributes profits towards charity and good causes within the Bailiwick.

The ’80s

During the 80s the Lottery had its own supercomputer to carry out the monthly draw-based game. This hugely popular character, Super Fred, retired in the early 90s. 

The ’90s

The lottery evolved from a traditional draw-based paper game with draws held every two weeks. Thousands of winning numbers were drawn electronically by ‘Super Fred’. The top prize by the 90s was £40,000 and during bumper draws such as Christmas, reached £190,000. 

This game evolved to a more complex structure after Fred’s retirement comprising a two-part ticket, which on the top portion awarded instant prizes concealed behind a silver latex panel containing six prize values. The player had to match three identical values to win that amount. Approximately 281 prizes, totalling £550, were spread over every 2000 tickets, and were valued at between £1 and £50. 

A scratch card instant game was introduced to revitalise the traditional draw in 1997 and has grown in popularity since. 

The ’00s

By 2011, Scientific Games International took responsibility of game production and their approach to instant games making them fun with lots of winners really took off. All proceeds from the Channel Island Lottery continue to be transferred to charity and good causes and over the years have helped fund events such as Liberation Day celebrations, Island Games events and the Jersey Battle of Flowers. The CI Lottery has also provided £millions in essential funding for Channel Island charities.

Our mission and responsibilities

As operator, the CI Joint Lottery Office works hard to ensure that the lottery continues to be a positive experience for participants providing the best return to the local charity sector and notable good causes. 

We want to create lots of winners every month and deliver around £3million every year that goes towards supporting good causes across the Channel Islands. 

We wouldn’t be able to achieve this without our players, which makes it all the more important that they have a positive experience – with lots of Channel Islanders playing, but individually spending amounts proportioned to their levels of income. 

Gambling legislation in the Channel Islands

The Channel Islands Lottery (‘the CI Lottery’) is effectively a joint operation with the States of Jersey. Its foundation is tied up in legislation and States Resolutions formed through the (Gaming and Lotteries) Ordinance, 1991 which were made under the Gambling (Guernsey) Law 1971.  In Jersey, The Public Lotteries Board as part of the Economic Development Department is constituted in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Channel Islands Lottery (Jersey) Regulations 1975, for the purpose of conducting any Draws held in Jersey.

Our Partners

The game maker
 
Scientific Games International (SGI), are based in Leeds and have been the Channel Islands Lottery partner since 2011. SGI are the world’s leading game maker with 70 percent of lottery instant games worldwide. SGI work extensively with governments, producing 150 lotteries around the globe which helps raise £billions for good causes. 
 
SGI are a World Lottery Association standard bearer and have a robust auditing protocol in which every single Channel Islands Lottery game specification is audited by Deloitte. 
 
Becoming a retailer 

Our customers perhaps don’t realise that by playing the Channel Islands Lottery games at their local outlet, they are supporting small businesses who receive a lottery commission as part of their purchase. In the last financial year we paid over £1.58million in commissions so becoming a reseller of tickets is not only good for your company but great for the community you serve as it raises £millions for local causes. 

If you would like more information about becoming a reseller of CI Lottery tickets, please contact our Main Agents:

Jersey: Fox Trading 

Tel: 01534 511000
Email: sales@foxtrading.co.uk

Address:

Fox Trading
La Rue Des Pres
St. Saviour
JERSEY 
JE1 3UP

Guernsey: Guernsey Post

Tel: 01481 711720
Email: custserv@​guernseypost.com

Address: 

Guernsey Post Ltd
Envoy House
La Vrangue
St Peter Port
GUERNSEY
GY1 1AA

Policies 

As part of regulating the CI Lottery we abide by a number of policies and codes of conduct. In particular, all resellers must prescribe to a player protection policy and they are monitored to ensure they follow these rules and do not sell tickets to vulnerable or people aged under 18 years of age. 

Our Games

There are two parts of the Channel Islands Lottery; instant-win scratch card games that operate all year and an annual Christmas Draw with a guaranteed top prize and many other cash prizes

Instant games – 

The Channel Island Lottery instant games range in price from £2, £5 and £10 tickets. The games are fun to play and the prizes available range from £2 to £100,000. We pay out over £15 million in prizes every year. 

Christmas Lottery – 

The Channel Islands Christmas Lottery has been popular in the Channel Islands for 40 years. It has grown over the years and now includes a large prize fund which includes a guaranteed first prize of £1m and numerous prizes. Tickets are sold from Oct 1st and remain in circulation right up to the live draw which takes place on the last Thursday before Christmas. The draw is televised live on ITV Channel News from 6.00pm. The draw alternates between the Islands and is carried out by senior officers from the States of Guernsey and Jersey. A person of high standing in the local community is invited to represent the people of the Channel Islands as an observer. This individual will witness the draw and ensure the draw procedure is carried out appropriately.

How to claim a prize

Prizes must be claimed not later than twelve months after the date of issue as announced on our games page.

Scratch cards must be presented when claiming prizes. The “void if removed” panel must be present and the ticket holder is responsible for keeping scratch cards in good condition.

Prizes up to £200 (Guernsey)

Rohais Post Office,
Waitrose,
Rohais,
Guernsey,
GY1 1FE

01481 721403
www.guernseypost.com

Prizes up to £1000 (Guernsey)

Envoy House Post Office,
Guernsey Post,
Envoy House,
La Vrangue,
Guernsey
GY1 1AA

01481 711720
www.guernseypost.com

Prizes up to £1000 (Jersey)

Philip Le Feuvre House
P.O. Box 55
La Motte Street
St Helier, Jersey
JE4 8PE


01534 444444

Responsible Play

For most people, playing lottery games is fun and entertaining; however for a small percentage of people playing can become a problem. Responsible Play is all about being informed, having fun and knowing your limits and resellers play a vital part in ensuring the safety of our players. 

If playing lottery games is no longer fun for you or you are concerned about someone close to you, help is always at hand.

Our first line of defence against problem play is how the game maker, Scientific Games International, build responsible play into the scratch card games as they are being developed.

SGI use tools and processes to ensure games are designed to be low-risk and closely monitor games as they are being developed and launched. 

The States of Guernsey and States of Jersey work closely with external health and addiction support service providers.