Lottery body backtracks on daily draw decision
The National Lottery Commission, the newly-formed regulator, says it will consider moves by Camelot to launch daily draws, in a U-turn on the position taken by its forerunner, Oflot.
Camelot’s plans to launch draws every day except Sunday were first revealed by Marketing Week (November 1997).
But a spokeswoman for the Office of the National Lottery, which was replaced by the Lottery Commission on April 1, later told MW (April 4, 1998): “The acting director general does not feel it is the right time at the moment [for daily draws]. With concerns about excessive play being what they are, it is not the way forward for the National Lottery.”
She said Oflot took the same view of daily draws as it did of Camelot’s plans to launch Keno, a game in which draws are repeated every 15 minutes. Oflot believed both schemes could encourage gambling addiction.
But this week, a spokeswoman for the National Lottery Commission refused to rule out giving permission to Camelot to launch daily games. She says: “We have ruled out Keno, but daily draws were in the original portfolio. We need to look at it objectively.”
Her comments coincide with Camelot’s announcement of its financial results for the year to March 31 1999, which shows profit before tax down 19 per cent to &£70.1m on sales down 5.6 per cent at &£5.2bn.
Camelot launches the advertising campaign for its new Thunderball online game this week. Two TV executions break on June 3, the press campaign starts on June 6 and radio ads break on June 7. The ads were created by WCRS.
