The U.K. Gambling Commission has warned that it may suspend lottery operations for the first time in its 30-year history while a legal challenge over the award of its license to a new operator plays out in the courts.
In March, the U.K. awarded the 10-year license to operate the lottery to Czech-based Allwyn Entertainment Ltd., replacing Camelot UK Lotteries, which has run the lottery since its inception in 1994. Camelot’s license expires in February 2024, and Allwyn is licensed to take over until at least 2034.
Camelot has filed a challenge to the license change in Britain’s High Court. The Gambling Commission last week stated that the legal challenge could delay the 2024 handover of lottery operations, resulting in temporary suspension of the National Lottery for the first time.
The Gambling Commission has stated that Allwyn needs at least 19 months to prepare for the complex process of taking over operation of the lottery.
Gambling Commission Executive Director John Tanner warned in a submission to the High Court that the legal challenge could cause Allwyn to have insufficient “implementation” time, resulting in a “real risk that there will be a period when the National Lottery does not operate at all.”
Camelot has claimed in its challenge that the commission’s decision to hand Allwyn the contract was “badly wrong,” and noted that the decision will effectively put Camelot out of business.
In his submission, Tanner said that as long as the commission was prevented from entering into an “enabling agreement” with Allwyn to start the “unprecedented and untested” transfer process, there was a serious risk of disruption to the lottery.
“While the Commission is prevented from entering into the enabling agreement with Allwyn, both the Commission and Allwyn will suffer significant prejudice in being unable to commence important steps towards commencement of the fourth license,” Tanner said, according to The Telegraph.
“This will almost certainly mean that, as a minimum, the National Lottery does not operate to its full potential at the start of the fourth license term. Further, there is a real risk in these circumstances that there will, following the end of the third license, be a period where the National Lottery does not operate at all.
“There would be no contributions to Good Causes during any period where the National Lottery is not operating. The interests of participants would be jeopardized in that winners in National Lottery games under the Third License (held by Camelot) may be unable, after the expiry of that license, to claim prizes.”
