Why did Camelot lose the UK national lottery licence?
When the national lottery was launched in 1994, via a TV spectacular watched by more than a third of the population, the famous advertising slogan promised: “It could be you.”
It won’t be Camelot though, at least not from 2024.
During its tenure of nearly three decades as the lottery’s operator, Camelot outlasted five prime ministers, fought off challenges from the likes of Sir Richard Branson and navigated the rise of the internet and the smartphone.
Now, barring a successful judicial review by Canadian-owned Camelot, which now has a 10-day “cooling-off” period to consider its next move, the torch will be passed on.
The fourth ever battle for the lucrative licence ended in defeat to Czech-owned Allwyn, which also fended off competition from media tycoon Richard Desmond and Sisal, an Italian firm whose bid was complicated when it was bought for £1.6bn, midway through the competition, by Paddy Power owner Flutter.
The big question is what Allwyn’s victory means for consumers, for the good causes that the lottery funds, for Camelot and its 1,000 staff in Watford, and for the new stewards of a game played by nearly 10 million people in the UK.
Ultimately owned by the Czech billionaire Karel Komárek Allwyn already runs lotteries in the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and Austria.
To boost its efforts to add the UK to the stable, Allwyn hired an all-star cast of business luminaries. Leading the charge was Sir Keith Mills, whose Midas touch moments include inventing the Air Miles and Nectar Points loyalty schemes, as well as running London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics. He was joined by former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King, who chairs Allwyn UK and worked with Mills on the delivery of the games.
For the time being,
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