According to the former boss of the UK National Lottery, any legal action over the NL operating licence could cost a total of £1 billion from the money meant to be granted to good causes.
Dame Dianne Thompson has addressed the country’s gambling regulatory body, asking it to delay the procedure of transferring the fourth 10-year operating permit for the National Lottery to its newly chosen partner, the Czech Republic’s gambling company Allwyn, in order to avoid the aforementioned financial losses. The warning of the former National Lottery boss comes at a time when the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is set to face the court action filed by the current holder of the NL licence, Camelot Group in a few months.
According to Dame Dianne Thompson, who occupied the position of a chief executive officer at Camelot Group in the period from 2000 to 2014, the UK gambling watchdog should wait until the lawsuit is finalised before proceeding with the transfer of the operating rights for the National Lottery.
If the projections are realistic, the £1-billion losses would hit the funding to good causes hard, especially considering the fact that a total of £1.88 billion had been distributed by the fund to various sports, arts and other community projects.
Legal Action over the Operating Permit Likely to Reduce Funding to Good Causes
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, Camelot Group was extremely disturbed by the fact that it would lose the National Lottery licence. In March 2022, the UK Gambling Commission officially announced that it had decided to strip the company of the control of the lottery after almost three decades of operation and grant the operating licence to Allwyn, a Czech Republic-based gambling group linked to the billionaire Karel Komarek.
Allwyn currently runs lottery operations in a few destinations across Europe, including Italy, Austria, Greece, and Cyprus.
After the Gambling Commission’s announcement, the current boss of Camelot Group, Nigel Railton, shared that the gambling regulatory body had made the wrong decision and revealed that the company would take the matter to court. The current holder of the National Lottery operating permit is willing to regain control of the lottery by persuading the court to overturn the national gambling regulator’s decision, rather than recoup its potential losses. The court is expected to make a final decision on whether such a move is appropriate.
The former CEO of Camelot Group has sent a letter to the UKGC to also express her concern about the possible consequences of the pending change in the UK National Lottery’s operation. Dame Dianne Thompson warned that the possible damages of that choice would equal up to a decade’s worth of the profits generated by Camelot Group and would be drawn from the money meant to be granted to good causes and community projects.
As mentioned above, the former boss of Camelot Group noted that transferring the National Lottery licence to Allwyn before the official ending of the ongoing legal proceedings would obstruct the chances of reconsidering the decision. The UK Gambling Commission, in its turn, insists that it has held a fair, transparent and robust competition for the operating permit of the National Lottery. The gambling regulator warned that potential delays in the implementation of the fourth operating licence were quite risky because funding to good causes could be significantly reduced as a result of the waiting period.
- Author
Olivia Cole
