Design hitch sinks Camelot cruise bingo

Camelot’s plans to launch gambling games on cruise ships have collapsed after the National Lottery operator was forced to axe the scheme because of design problems.

The bingo game, Hot Tracks, involved players betting on car races screened on TVs in the bars and lounges of cruise ships. A six-week test was carried out at the end of last year, and a further test was due to begin this spring.

But a Camelot spokesman says the second pilot has been suspended, and could not say when it would be reinstated, claiming it was “several months away”. He originally blamed the problems on a technical glitch which hardware supplier Dreamport, a subsidiary of Gtech, was trying to resolve.

But Gtech says this is incorrect, and the Camelot spokesman has since changed his story. He now claims: “The hardware works. We are still developing something in the area of how it looks, and how it fits in with a luxury cruise liner.”

It was the first game developed by subsidiary Camelot International Services. The division is run by Camelot finance director Peter Murphy.