National Lottery Lotto players will be able to buy their tickets online for the first time from today, operator Camelot has announced.

The new service, which follows a week-long trial, enables players to buy tickets for Wednesday and Saturday Lotto draws, as well as Daily Play, at www.national-lottery.co.uk.

Camelot plans to extend the service to interactive television and mobile phones at some stage next year.

The move online follows the launch of scratchcards and instant win games on the internet earlier this year. Other games, such as Thunderball, Lotto Extra and Lotto Hotpicks will be made available online in the future.

Camelot's interactive director, Richard Hurd-Wood, said that the move was aimed at persuading occasional players to buy more tickets.

"Our research suggests there is a significant market among irregular lottery players, who are comfortable with technology and who don't make the time to purchase tickets regularly at retail outlets," he said.

"In our bid to continue exploring new channels, we will also be extending this service to both interactive TV and mobile phones in 2004."

Camelot's profit from the lottery recovered this year after suffering a damaging sales slump. The operator reported a £27m profit in the first half of this financial year, compared with £18m for the same period last year.

Reliance on sales of tickets for the main Lotto draw has fallen still further, with other lottery games making up 29% of sales between July and September this year, up from 24% in the previous quarter.