Dream Number - interactive system

Background
The licence granted to Camelot under Section 5 of the National Lottery etc Act 1993 (as amended) requires Camelot to establish and operate an adequate system of internal control to the satisfaction of the National Lottery Commission over financial and other affairs securing the effective and efficient operation of the National Lottery. 

The licence granted to Camelot under Section 6 of the National Lottery etc Act 1993 (as amended) in relation to the Dream Number game requires that each entry in the game must comprise a randomly generated seven digit number, each digit being between 0 and 9 and the number ranging from 0000000 to 9999999.

Condition
Condition 21(1)(a) of the Section 5 Licence and Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 of the Section 6 Dream Number Licence.

Description
Within days of launching the Dream Number game in July 2006, Camelot became aware that its interactive system had been incorrectly configured to issue a Dream Number made up of 7 digits between the numbers 0- 8, omitting the number 9.  A system fix was immediately put in place.

Regulatory Action
Having written to Camelot and considered its response, the Commission concluded that there had been a contravention of:

• the requirements of the Section 5 licence in that inadequate control was exercised in the development and verification of software for the interactive Dream Number game
• the requirements of the Section 6 licence in that entries on the interactive system could not initially include the number 9.

In reaching its decision, the Commission noted that Camelot immediately corrected the system and issued tokens to all players affected by the system error.  Licence breaches were recorded on 24 October 2007.

Outcome
Camelot has adopted measures to enhance controls over the development and testing of interactive games.