Camelot has achieved record National Lottery ticket sales of £7.6bn for the year to 31 March 2016, up £317m on the previous year.

In-store sales also hit an all-time high of £6.01bn, an increase of £72.6m on 2014/15.

Performance was driven by impressive growth across the National Lottery’s GameStore range of instant play games, while sales of Lotto also increased following the changes Camelot introduced last autumn to give players more chances than ever to become a millionaire.

Accounting for around 80% of all sales, retail remains the largest National Lottery sales channel – with independents making up the majority of outlets.

Camelot’s record-breaking performance means that the company’s retail partners earned over £333m in sales commission in 2015/16 – over £7,000, on average, per store, it said.

Thanking its 47,000 retail partners, Camelot’s head of retail James Pearson said: “I’d like to congratulate our retail partners and their customers for their vital role in this achievement.

“Their hard work over the last two decades has helped us achieve a life-changing £35bn for Good Causes. This means that over 490,000 projects across the UK – over 150, on average, in every neighbourhood ­– have now benefited from vital lottery funding.

“Our success will continue to be driven by an ongoing commitment to invest in our retail partners, with a particular focus on innovation. We’ve had some great feedback on our recently revamped retailer website, which provides retailers with the flexibility to manage their accounts anytime, anywhere.”

Culture secretary John Whittingdale welcomed the results: “It is fantastic that the public’s support of the National Lottery has resulted in over £35bn being raised for good causes, benefitting thousands of projects in communities up and down the country.

“The National Lottery continues to go from strength to strength and is also playing a huge role in supporting Team GB and Paralympics GB at Rio 2016.”