The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Legal battles delay overhaul of National Lottery by new owner
A PLANNED overhaul of the National Lottery has been delayed by a series of legal battles, the new operator has said.
Allwyn, which will take over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from next month, said plans for new drawbased games due to be introduced this year have been pushed back until 2025.
The company warned delays would lead to a drop in sales and affect the amount of money gives to charities.
Andria Vidler, the new boss of Allwyn’s UK operations, said the group was trying to ensure charitable funding would not go “backwards” this year but added that donations were directly affected by sales growth.
Allwyn, owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, is replacing Camelot as the lottery operator, marking the first time the licence has changed hands since it was launched nearly three decades ago. However, the transition has been beset with legal challenges. Camelot initially challenged the Gambling Commission’s decision to hand the licence to Allwyn, although this was eventually withdrawn and Camelot’s owners sold the business to its rival for £100m.
International Games Technology (IGT), which provides the technology behind the lottery, also took legal action. While this has been dropped, Allwyn has agreed to extend its contract with IGT, abandoning plans to switch to a different tech supplier.
Ms Vidler said the delays to the overhaul were the “consequence of the legal issues”. She told the PA news agency: “Until all of these big challenges were resolved, we couldn’t get going. The challenges delayed the final award of the licence to Allwyn, which shortened the transition period.”
As part of its successful bid, Allwyn pledged to overhaul the National Lottery, which is the UK’s largest distributor of charity funds. This included new games and draws, promises to increase sales and double charitable funding by the end of the 10-year licence.
Allwyn is also reviewing a promise to halve the price of a lottery ticket from £2 to £1. Ms Vidler, the former UK boss of record label EMI and BBC executive, said Allwyn was “disappointed” about the delays.