Camelot is attempting to defuse the growing furore over comments by its chief executive about players having little chance of winning.

The lottery operator is claiming the remarks of Dianne Thompson - in a speech to marketing executives - had been taken out of context.

Less than 24 hours after her words were widely publicised, Camelot announced a new game would be introduced next month.

Ms Thompson had claimed lottery punters "would be lucky to win a tenner".

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 14 million

But Camelot now says the comments were made because she was addressing the perception that �10 Lotto prizes were not worth winning.

A statement from the company said: "The odds of winning the jackpot on Lotto are one in 14 million with the odds of winning �10 being one in 57.

"However, every week millions of people win on National Lottery games with around one million people winning �10 on Lotto alone."

Speculation

But Camelot admitted it was introducing more ways of allowing players to win.

Lotto Hotpicks, to be launched in July, is linked to the main Lotto draw and aims to increase the chances of winning bigger prizes for matching fewer numbers.

Players can win �40 by matching two numbers, �450 with three and �7,000 with four.

But they said that despite speculation there were no plans to change the price of a lottery ticket.

"Ultimately, any price change would be the decision of our regulator, the National Lottery Commission," a spokesman said.