The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has awarded itself £155 million derived from ticket sales of the National Lottery that were meant to be donated to good causes, recent reports claim.
As revealed by the Daily Mail, the UK gambling regulatory body got the money to cover administration costs which surpassed the budgeted funds by about £50 million, although the money was supposed to be used to fund charitable organisations and community groups. The report says that the chief executive officer of the UKGC, Andrew Rhodes, has admitted that a total of £154.8 million has been taken by the regulator to regulate the lottery over the next 10 years. Mr Rhodes further noted that the money is set to be used to pay for the recent bidding process for the operating licence of the National Lottery that was announced to have been won by the Czech betting operator Allwyn.
The actions of the Gambling Commission were unveiled by the vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling-Related Harm, Sir Iain Duncan Smith. He shared his disappointment with the way the lottery is operated, highlighting the fact that the proportion of funds granted to good causes has actually been reduced by the UKGC itself.
Mr Rhodes sent a letter to the chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Dame Meg Hillier, revealing that the costs to licence and regulate the National Lottery increased to almost £155 million, while almost £103 million was set in the initial budget.
Czech Republic’s Allwyn Chosen as the Next National Lottery Licence Holder
Following the new wave of criticism, the UKGC shared that it had tried to keep costs on the lower side while making sure that the regulatory body’s statutory duties were fulfilled so that it delivered the best possible outcome for the National Lottery. Furthermore, it said that the £154.8 million were recognised as a reasonable investment, considering that the new 10-year contract was expected to generate ticket sales worth £80 billion in the period 2023-2033.
In March, the UK Gambling Commission announced that Allwyn, the largest lottery operator in Europe, had been selected as the new holder of the next 10-year National Lottery operating licence that is set to officially start in 2023. The Czech Republic-based gambling company beat Camelot Group, which has operated the National Lottery since its first operating permit was granted 30 years ago.
Allwyn is associated with the Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, who has promised to bring changes to the National Lottery, with some plans to cut the NL ticket prices from £2 to £1 during the period of its fourth licence.
However, the UKGC’s choice of the preferred candidate has drawn criticism to both the regulatory body and the newly-chosen National Lottery’s operator due to Mr Komarek’s ties with Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant. The thing is that in 2016 Moravske Naftove Doly (MND), a company owned by Mr Komarek, and Gazprom formed a joint venture to establish an underground gas storage facility in the Czech Republic. As a result, MND owned a stake in a Czech gas importer for a few years, with Gazprom subsidiaries holding a majority stake in the same importer.
Previously, the UK gambling regulator noted that none of the applications for the National Lottery operating permit had been impacted by any sanctions associated with the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.
- Author
Daniel Williams
