UK lottery gets jitters

The UK national press is speculating that the National Lottery will be given back to Camelot, the operators since it started in 1994 – at least for six months.

An extension is on the cards, expected to be announced by the Gambling Commission, worried that the auction sale of the licence is not attracting a wealth of bidders.

The commission announced in February that there would be a two-month delay to the bidding process, for a licence to operate the lottery from 2023. Early bidders were thought to be Virgin Group and the Czech company Sazka, but Virgin pulled out in May, along with Australia’s Tabcorp, that had already withdrawn.

The two-month delay has now extended to three months and Camelot believes that it will have a six-month extension to its licence.

The National Lottery revealed record results earlier in June. A spokesman for the Gambling Commission is reported in the Sunday Telegraph as saying: “The extended timetable is designed to enable potential applicants to make adequate preparations for a fair, open and robust competition.”