Camelot plc are the current national lottery operators and are responsible for the actual running of the Camelot lottery. They have nothing to do with the awarding of lottery grants and are not connected with The Lottery Company or www.lottery.co.uk in any way, shape or form!
Official Camelot Lottery
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First Camelot Lottery Licence Period : 1994-2002
When Camelot Group plc was awarded the first lottery licence (which lasted seven years) it was owned by a consortium of companies, with some of the key partners being Cadbury-Schweppes, De La Rue, GTECH Corporation and ICL. The first games to be introduced to the British public by Camelot were lottery scratchcards (also known as Instants or Instant Win games) and the 6 from 49 draw-based game that was originally referred to as the National Lottery but has since rebranded as Lotto. Other games were introduced as the years went by, and whilst a few of those have since fallen by the wayside, many are just as popular today as they were in the beginning.
As the end of the first licence period approached, GTECH was bought out by other Camelot shareholders, leaving ICL with a stake of 20% and the other shareholders with 26.7%. ICL was then taken over by Fujitsu and Camelot secured a second seven-year licence to continue operating the National Lottery until 2009.
Second Camelot Lottery Licence Period : 2002 - 2009
It was during this second licence period, in February 2004 to be precise, that the multi-national EuroMillions game was introduced to the lottery-playing public. EuroMillions was jointly launched by Camelot Group plc in the UK, the Loterias y Apuestas des Estad in Spain and the Francaise des Jeux in France. Other countries were keen to join the EuroMillions family and the game is currently played in a total of nine countries, making it one of the biggest lottery games in the world – an achievement that Camelot Group plc is unabashedly proud of.
As the end of the second Camelot lottery licence period approached the operator revealed that it was planning the creation of a World Lottery Draw which 48 countries had already expressed an interest in as possible participants. The aim of the World Lottery would be to create up to one hundred new millionaires with every draw.
Rather predictably, Camelot Group plc applied for a third licence to operate the UK National Lottery and a decade-long licence was granted, along with an option to extend the licence by an additional five years. This means that Camelot will remain at the helm of the National Lottery in he UK until at least 2019 and possibly even until 2024.
Third Camelot Lottery Licence Period : 2009 – 2019
We are still in the very early stages of the third Camelot lottery licence period but already there have been some newsworthy developments. The biggest for lottery players themselves was the overhaul of the popular Thunderball game, which saw the jackpot doubled in size and the addition of a new third weekly draw every Friday. But perhaps the most notable event as a whole so far has been the announcement (in March 2010) that the existing Camelot shareholders had agreed to sell their shares to Ontario Teachers Pension Plan for around £389 million.
The agreed sale of shares in Camelot to Ontario Teachers Pension Plan meant the end of a long association with the UK National Lottery for original key partners such as De La Rue and the Royal Mail. Whilst some will view that as a bad thing, spokespersons for both Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Camelot Group plc put the deal in a thoroughly positive light.
Good Causes
The National Lottery was created with the specific intention of raising money for good causes, and Camelot Group plc has certainly delivered in that area. 28p in every £1 raised by the lottery goes to Good Causes, and since the first lottery game was launched in 1994 over £24 billion has been used to support a wide range of worthwhile projects in every part of the UK. As far as lottery players themselves are concerned, the Camelot games have also created more than 2,400 brand new millionaires, and – thanks to the relatively new Millionaire Raffle game – that number increases by at least one every single week.
National Lottery Line : 0845 910 0000
Subscriptions Line : 0845 912 5000
Head Office:
Camelot Group plc
Tolpits Lane
Watford
Herts
WD18 9RN
Phone: 01923 425000
Liverpool Prize Office:
Unit 5
Tiger Court
Kings Drive
Kings Business Park
Prescot
Knowsley
Liverpool
L34 1BH
Phone : 0151 236 1796
