Gambling Commission expects “four or five” bidders for new UK National Lottery licence
CEO Neil McArthur cites “real interest” from operators, but cannot confirm if Camelot will re-tender
The Gambling Commission (UKGC) expects “four or five” companies to launch bids to run the UK National Lottery when the licence competition opens in March 2020, the regulator’s CEO has said.
Speaking at the DCMS’ inquiry into so-called addictive and immersive technologies, Neil McArthur said there had been “real interest” from several firms, particularly at its recent seminar at the TechUK event.
McArthur said there were between six and ten companies which had the experience necessary to run the National lottery and only four or five of those were interested in doing so.
Speaking about the potential bidders, McArthur would not confirm the names of any of the companies or whether existing UK National Lottery provider Camelot was among them, merely adding that it was “more likely than not”.
Several operators have expressed an interest in taking over from Camelot, including Lottoland, Scientific Games, the Health Lottery and the Northern and Shell group.
The competition for the next National Lottery licence is scheduled to launch in March 2020. Ahead of this launch, the UKGC confirmed that it had been recruiting additional personnel and working to develop a process of how it will assess potential bidders.
“We are running to a timetable that has the formal launch of the competition at the end of March with a lot of work. It is quite a challenging timescale. We are working very closely with both the market and DCMS already to make that a success,” McArthur added.
McArthur also revealed the UKGC has approached independent financial advisory group Rothchild & Co to “help build the engagement” in the National Lottery licence competition in the run up to the launch.
“Through the work that we are doing in the competition I am very keen to engage with stakeholders, including the distributors, to make the most of that. I do think there is a uniqueness about the National Lottery proposition that is important for us to get over,” McArthur added.