Italian operator joins fight for National Lottery

The race to secure the right to operate the UK’s National Lottery is hotting up.

The current operator, Camelot, intends to bid again for the licence when it comes up in 2023. Equity group CVC Capital Partners, with interests in gambling already, is now backing a bid by Italy’s top lottery company, Sisal, one of its portfolio companies.

CVC will now compete both with Camelot and with Czech operator Sazka. The latter company has joined forces with Apollo Global Management, a US company that last year gave Sazka €500m to fund its lottery operations. Another probable bidder will be Indian lottery operator Sugal & Damani.

The decision on where the licence will go will be made later this year.