Lottery may be based on John Lewis model

National Lottery operator Camelot could be replaced by a co-operative company run along the lines of department store chain John Lewis, under proposals outlined in the Government’s White Paper on the Lottery.

If such a system were applied to Camelot, its 600 employees would reap up to 800,000 each from the company’s 500m estimated profits over the seven-year National Lottery licence period.

Under the proposals, staff would be expected to make substantial contributions to good causes.

The White Paper, called “The People’s Lottery” has been drawn up by Culture Secretary Chris Smith, and proposes four possible models as to how the Lottery could be run during the next licence period ,which starts in 2001.

One model is “an organisation where the distribution of profits is not to shareholders but instead to employees and the good causes”.

Observers say such an organisation could use the John Lewis Partnership as a blue print. At the department store chain, full-time staff are employed as partners with voting rights on issues at branch and central level. Profits are divided between the employees through bonuses.

Last year, all partners were entitled to a bonus of 20 per cent of their salaries.