National Lottery operator Camelot has initiated proceedings in the High Court against the Gambling Commission in the wake of its decision to award the next licence to operate the lottery to Allwyn Entertainment.
Nigel Railton, Camelot CEO, commented: “We are launching a legal challenge today in our capacity as an applicant for the Fourth Licence because we firmly believe that the Gambling Commission has got this decision badly wrong. When we received the result, we were shocked by aspects of the decision.”
The Gambling Commission had previously said the naming of Allwyn followed a “fair, open and robust” competition which saw Camelot named Reserve Applicant.
Railton continued: “Despite lengthy correspondence, the Commission has failed to provide a satisfactory response. We are therefore left with no choice but to ask the court to establish what happened.
“Irrespective of Camelot’s dual roles as current operator and applicant for the next National Lottery licence, the competition is one of the largest UK government-sponsored procurements and the process deserves independent scrutiny. Separately, more than 1,000 Camelot employees work tirelessly to successfully operate The National Lottery under the current licence and, at the very least, they are owed a proper explanation.”
