Oflot scuppers Camelot plans to start daily National Lottery draws

Camelot’s plans to run National Lottery draws every day of the week except Sunday have been dealt a blow by the regulator, the Office of the National Lottery.

A spokeswoman for Oflot says it will not give permission for the scheme.

The plans were first revealed by Marketing Week (November 27 1997). Reports suggest Camelot plans top prizes of up to 200,000 for the daily online draws, which it wants to run in 1999.

But the Oflot spokeswoman says: “The acting director general John Stoker does not feel it is the right time at the moment.

“With concerns about excessive play being what they are, it is not the way forward for the National Lottery.”

She says Oflot takes the same view of daily draws as it does of Camelot’s plans to launch Keno, a game in which draws are repeated every hour.

Oflot believes both schemes could encourage gambling addiction.

The Government is restructuring Oflot under the new National Lottery Bill, to be enacted by autumn. Instead of a director general, it will have a five-body commission to take important decisions.

Meanwhile, Oflot is due to announce its findings tomorrow (Thursday) on whether Camelot supplier GTech is “fit and proper” to be involved in the National Lottery.

Camelot ejected GTech from its consortium last week. It is thought Camelot will change its name and relaunch itself for the next Lottery licence bid in 2001.