MPs Reflect on UK Lottery Operators Performance
The UK’s Department for Culture, Media & Sport has published a scathing analysis of the recent fourth lottery licensing tendering process, in a report which also reserved criticism for outgoing operator Camelot.
The review suggested the Gambling Commission, the organization who was empowered for the first time to vet applicants for the lucrative state lottery contract, presided over a contest which delivered ‘mixed results’ at best. Indeed, Tory Party ministers lamented a licensing competition which was ‘beset with controversy’, as Allwyn, bankrolled by Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, pipped rival bidders to the post, and ended Camelot’s 30-year hegemony over the UK’s National Lottery products.
Furthermore, with Camelot and its software development partner IGT currently preparing a £600m litigation case over the UKGC’s handling of the contract award, there is genuine concern that a hefty chunk of any court-ordered payment would be taken from funds ringfenced for Good Causes. The irony of Camelot indirectly eating into a pot reserved for community projects and charity initiatives won’t be lost on DCMS officials, who claimed the Watford-based subsidiary had ‘prioritized own profits’ over commitments to Good Causes during their tenure. This sentiment was captured in a recent BBC Radio Scotland interview with Julian Knight MP, Conservative Party representative for Solihull, who lambasted the group for chasing down scratch card sales, rather than attending to what should be its main objective,
‘’There has been a focus on scratch cards over the main lottery game, and that’s meant that the proportion of lottery money going to good causes has fallen over the last decade’’ said Knight, adding ‘this has partly helped to break the link in the public’s mind between the lottery and those good causes, which is after all the reason the lottery was founded in the first place.’’
In an event that perhaps perfectly illustrates the extent of the drama in recent months, this week Allywn received provisional acceptance from Camelot’s parent company, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to acquire the UK’s departing lottery operator.
