Commercial director leaves Camelot

Camelot commercial director Phil Smith has left the lottery operator without a job to go to after chief executive Dianne Thompson has pledged to stay on until 2012. It is understood Smith is on gardening leave.

His departure will come as a blow to the operator’s bid to renew the lottery licence, which was submitted last Friday. Only one rival operator, Indian company Sugal & Dumani, has bid for the licence.

Smith, a former Somerfield and Kraft marketer joined Camelot in 2001, joined the company with a brief to halt declining ticket sales and increase the amount of money good causes would receive. He was previously deputy managing director at improveline.com, an online service that matched builders with clients.