Belfast retailers have said that over the past four weeks there has been a shortage in scratchcards and they have not been able to get the correct amount of stock in order to meet the demand for them.

It is understood that the problems have arisen as a result of the National Lottery changing its scratchcard supplier and the issue has impacted retailers across the UK.

Speaking to Belfast Live, one Belfast shop owner said: "Over the past four weeks there has been a shortage of scratchcards, primarily due to issues following a supplier change, but it is impacting businesses across Northern Ireland.

"Singularly they do not generate a lot of profit, but over the course of a week this all adds up and the money from them is enough for us to cover the wages of one member of staff and in the current climate any additional costs have an impact on us.

"While we are aware of the associated risks with scratchcards, there are many people who enjoy using them in a safe manner and they also create valuable funding for charities and community groups across the UK.

"In the past couple of days we have seen a slight improvement in the levels of scratchcard stock, but we hope that this can be fully addressed soon."

A National Lottery spokesperson said that stores that "are set up with Monday as their Scratchcard order day may have experienced some short-term replenishment challenges as a result of the recent Bank Holiday weekend – although our system would have placed 'double orders' to account for this."

It has said that affected stores should have now received a delivery this week to bring their stock levels up to optimum levels.

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/national-lottery-working-address-scratchcard-28976670