Camelot renews National Lottery licence

Camelot has won the licence to run the National Lottery for the third successive bid beating competition from Indian rival Sugal & Damani.

The National Lottery Commission has selected Camelot as preferred bidder and will spend this month in talks with the company to finalise details of the licence, which runs for ten years from Febuary 2009.

Sugal & Damani has been chosen as reserve bidder, which will operate the lottery if the terms of the licence cannot be agreed with Camelot.

The NLC says Camelot’s sales and marketing plans are likely to generate higher returns to good causes than the strategy put forward by Sugal & Damani.

But NLC chief executive Mark Harris says Camelot’s forecast that it will raise £22bn for good causes over the ten year licence period is “over-optimistic”. He says Camelot’s forecast fails to take into account the extent to which launching new games would take sales away from existing games.

Camelot chief executive Dianne Thompson says she is “thrilled” that the company has been chosen as preferred bidder.