Lottery regulator refuses consent to Camelot ancillary activities application

NEWS RELEASE

REF: 01/11

Lottery regulator refuses consent to Camelot ancillary activities application

The National Lottery Commission (the Commission) has today published its decision on Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd’s (the National Lottery Operator) application to undertake Ancillary Activities.

The Commission has decided to refuse consent to Camelot’s application to undertake Ancillary Activities because of serious concerns arising out of EU/competition law. This decision was arrived at following a detailed consultation process, taking into account the views of interested parties and legal advice in a complicated and developing area of law.

Mark Harris Chief Executive of the National Lottery Commission said:

“The Commission is here to protect the long term propriety of the National Lottery and the £1.6 billion it raises annually for good causes. We cannot, as a public body, consent to the proposal that is before us when doing so may place us in breach of European competition law. We have considered whether the risks involved can reasonably be mitigated but have concluded, based on the advice we have received, that they cannot. We have set out a full rationale for the decision in a statement of reasons which is available on our website.”

Further information, including the statement of reasons can be found at: www.natlotcomm.gov.uk/commercial-services – ENDS –

Notes to editors

1. The Commission received an application from Camelot to offer commercial services such as mobile phone top-ups, electronic bill payments and other similar services through National Lottery terminals. We consulted with interested parties in order to identify any European or competition law considerations which we should take into account when reaching our decision on whether to give our consent to the proposal.

2. On 16 July 2010 the Commission announced a provisional decision not to give consent to the proposal as there is a significant risk of the proposal breaching EU/Competition law. In order to be fair to all parties the opportunity was given to make any final representations on our provisional decision.

3. The National Lottery Commission is the non-departmental public body set up on 1 April 1999 to regulate the National Lottery. It ensures that players are treated fairly, the Nation’s interest in the Lottery is protected and, subject to that to secure as much money as possible for good causes.

5. The National Lottery will contribute £2.175 billion towards the costs of staging the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, of which £750 million will come from designated Lottery games including Dream Number, Scratchcards and online games. Over £500 million has been raised from designated games to date. The National Lottery Commission publishes quarterly reports on the progress towards the £750 million target at: http://www.natlotcomm.gov.uk/CLIENT/content.ASP?ContentId=23

6. The licence to operate the UK National Lottery was awarded to Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd (formerly Camelot Group plc) in 2007. The licence competition was structured to reinvigorate the National Lottery and generate the greatest returns to good causes. Comparing the third licence with the remainder of the second licence and assuming a constant level of sales of £5 billion a year, it is estimated that the third licence will deliver an average annual increase in returns to good causes of between £60 – £100 million.

6. To subscribe to NLC press releases please contact Claire Wotherspoon on 020 7016 3422 or email c.wotherspoon@natlotcomm.gov.uk

Related downloads

• Commercial Services decision docment

  Decision on ancilliary activities proposal

  (pdf - 342kb)