Camelot to launch high court challenge over National Lottery contract loss
Camelot is launching a legal challenge against Britain’s gambling regulator after the lucrative National Lottery contract was awarded to a competitor.
The regulators decision to hand the fiercely contested lottery franchise to Czech rival Allwyn came as a blow for Camelot which has held the contract to run the lottery since 1994. The company has confirmed plans to launch a judicial review as well as a High Court procurement challenge over concerns that Camelot lost the contract despite coming top in the regulator’s scoring system used to measure the bids, The Telegraph first reported.
“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,” commented Camelot’s chief executive Nigel Railton.
“When we received the result, we were shocked by aspects of the decision. 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,” he added.
The comments come a week after lottery operator Camelot was fined £3.15m for mistakenly telling tens of thousands of players that they did not have winning tickets and sending marketing messages to people with potential gambling addictions.
Separately the digital, sports and gambling minister Chris Philp is seeking assurances from the Gambling Commission about ties between Allwyn’s owner – the Czech billionaire Karel Komarek – and the Russian state owned energy company Gazprom.
Read more: Bad luck again: Camelot UK hit with £3.15m fine for mobile app failings