Camelot out of UK National Lottery race

The battle for the rights to operate the UK’s National Lottery has lost one of its main contestants, the current operator Camelot.

Allwyn Entertainment has been named by the UK’s Gambling Commission as its preferred applicant for the next licence that is set to start in 2024, with Camelot as a reserve applicant.

Four companies have applied for the rights to run the lottery, which is one of the world’s largest. Its profits go to worthy causes and so far has led to 660,000 charities being awarded £45bn. It also helps fund the Great Britain teams in the Olympic and Paralympics.

Allwyn is a subsidiary of Europe’s largest operator, Sazka, owned by Czech oil and gas tycoon Karel Komarek (pictured), who joined in the competition to run the lottery last year.

Sazka Group is a specialised lottery and betting games operator in Europe and distributes online games through 64,000 points of sale in Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and the Czech Republic.

It has a 94 per cent share of the numbers lotteries business and an 80 per cent share of instant lotteries in the countries where it operates, with brands such as Sportka, Eurojackpot, Stastnych 10, Keno and Sazka Bet.