Higher or lower?

I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or just shake my head when I read the linked story.
Camelot, the UK National Lottery operator recently launched a new scratchcard lottery called Cool Cash.

To qualify for a prize, users had to scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card. As the game had a winter theme, the temperature was usually below freezing.

But the concept of comparing negative numbers proved too difficult for some Camelot received dozens of complaints on the first day from players who could not understand how, for example, -5 is higher than -6.Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards.

The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't."

I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I'm not having it. "I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card doesn't say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled."

I'm amazed at the lady's tone of indignation, and the fact that she feels that she is being fobbed off.

Camelot have withdrawn the competition as they have other customers who are similarly confused.

Most of the comments posted regarding this story on the newspaper site were very scathing towards the woman. I just feel sad that someone could go right through the British school system and not come out with at least enough numeracy to cope with negative numbers. Given the high levels of personal debt in the country it is worrying.

On the other hand a company which runs lotteries is really dependent on a market which isn't too strong in its ability to calculate. If everyone properly appraised their chances of winning before buying a ticket their sales would probably be much lower.