Allwyn highlights National Lottery’s “worrying trends” as licence award nears
Bid chair Sir Keith Mills outlines four main arguments as to why current licensee Camelot must be replaced in open letter
Sir Keith Mills, the chair of the Allwyn bid to win the National Lottery licence, has written an open letter urging the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to ditch Camelot when the licensing decision is made in the coming months.
The National Lottery has been run by Canada-based Camelot since its inception in 1994 and Mills says it is “apparent” that there is “need for change”.
For the last two years, the UKGC has overseen a competition to see who will be granted the fourth National Lottery licence from 2023.
Three companies are in competition with Allwyn – the incumbent Camelot, Flutter Entertainment-owned Sisal and Northern & Shell.
Writing on the Conservative Home website, Mills said: “The National Lottery has been a huge force for good since it was launched in 1994. Not only has it generated over £45bn for good causes, it has also generated significant sums for the Treasury.”
However, Mills highlighted four primary fixes that he believes are necessary to be made to the current model of the National Lottery to ensure its future stability.
The first is a severe decline in the number of participants since Camelot secured the third National Lottery licence a decade ago.
“Since the start of Camelot’s operation of the current licence in 2012, despite a growing adult population, millions of consumers no longer take part; around 5.8 million people who used to play have now stopped doing so. The next operator will have to win them back,” he said.
Secondly, Mills noted the “worrying trend” of declining revenue going to good causes needed to be reversed.
He continued: “The percentage of revenue going to good causes has dropped from 28% to 23%. Indeed, Camelot delivered £10bn less to good causes than they had promised for the second and third licences.”
His third argument centred around the proliferation of scratchcards and instant win games, citing the product’s role in potential gambling-related harm and smaller revenue contributions to good causes.
“The only significant growth in Camelot’s sales from 1999 has been from instant win games and scratchcards.
“Instant win games deliver a substantially smaller contribution to good causes compared to draw-based games and there is research to suggest that they are more likely to lead to problematic behaviour,” he added.
Finally, Mills said there needed to be a change in the perception of the National Lottery with an emphasis on connecting with younger generations.
He said: “The new operator will need to connect with the next generation. In recent years, under the current operator, there has been a trend of declining participation amongst younger people.
“My son and daughter, who are in their thirties, have never played – they think it’s for older people.”
The London 2012 Olympics maestro also indicated the need for the National Lottery to move with the times by embracing new technologies and following in the footsteps of the likes of Amazon and Google.
In his final remarks, Mills said: “I obviously hope the UKGC selects Allwyn. We have transformed national lotteries across Europe and have invested significantly in our British business to be fully ready to deliver the next exciting chapter for the National Lottery.
“But whoever gets selected, they must reverse the worrying trends. We are convinced that change is necessary and that Allwyn has what it takes to deliver an exciting future,” he concluded.