2009 - 2019 Licence competition

In January 2005 the Commission embarked on a competition to award the third lottery licence. The competition sought to secure a small number of competitive bidders for the licence to operate the National Lottery from 2009 to 2019 and culminated in Camelot Group Plc being awarded the licence in August 2007.

On 9 February 2007 the National Lottery Commission received bids from Camelot Group plc and Sugal & Damani UK Limited. Both bids met the seven Required Standards outlined by the Commission in the Invitation to Apply.

Following a rigorous evaluation, on 7 August 2007 Camelot Group plc was announced as the selected Preferred Bidder to become the operator of the National Lottery under the third Licence. Camelot was considered best able to maximise returns to good causes over the ten year term of the Licence. The Commission also concluded that there was a strong probability that Camelot Group plc would achieve higher sales than Sugal & Damani UK Ltd.

On 31 August 2007, we announced that the draft licence was finalised and the Commission had entered into an Enabling Agreement with Camelot. The new licence started on 1 February 2009, following an 18 month transition period.

Related downloads

• Creating a Lottery for the Future

  Creating a Lottery for the Future: An overview of the Third Licence Competition

  (pdf - 512kb)