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Camelot emerges as no surprise winner

Posted in General, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs August 8th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

At the National Lottery Commission’s (NLC) press conference today (7 August) to announce the ‘preferred’ bidder for the 2009 licence I was surprised to hear no claps, no cheers and no excitement. Why? I thought this was a big deal??

To be honest it is absolutely no surprise that Camelot won the two horse race to take on the lucrative 10 year lottery licence. For one, it managed to put up more than £10 million more than rival Sugal & Damani.

However, Anne Wright, chair of the NLC, assured us that money was not actually the issue and Camelot was chosen on the basis of how much money it would give to good causes.

Camelot’s task seems slightly easier than that of Sugal & Damani having already had the licence since 1994, it has a proven track record after all and has managed to build itself into a very successful company with unbeatable knowledge of the UK lottery.

The NLC, having recognised it has favoured the same incumbent three bids running, maintains it actively sought out rival bidders across the globe in order to encourage competition and innovation.

But remember there were many companies, including Richard Branson’s Virgin brand and Australia’s gambling firm Tattersalls.

These companies reportedly pulled out after ‘realising’ that Camelot’s position was too strong to take on, plus the company had a lot more money behind it, thanks to it being in the game for the past 13 years.

Did Sugal & Damani ever have a real chance in the bid or were they just encouraged to participate to make the race a little more interesting. After all, the NLC did extend the deadline to submit bids to give Sugal & Damani more time.