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Fourth National Lottery licence competition: statement on legal action

01 April 2022

On 15 March, the Gambling Commission announced Allwyn Entertainment UK (“Allwyn”) as Preferred Applicant for the fourth National Lottery licence.

The selection of a Preferred Applicant follows a fair, open and robust competition which received four applications at the final stage. This is the highest number of applications since the first National Lottery licence was awarded in 1994.

Following the announcement, we entered a legal standstill period. The standstill allowed all applicants to consider the outcome of the competition and feedback on their application, prior to the Commission entering into further legal arrangements with the Preferred Applicant.

The Commission has subsequently received legal proceedings in relation to the competition process. We regret Camelot’s decision to bring legal proceedings following the outcome of a highly successful competition for the fourth National Lottery licence. The competition and our evaluation have been carried out fairly and lawfully in accordance with our statutory duties, and we are confident that a court would come to that conclusion.

We are confident that we have run a fair and robust competition. We have taken every step possible to ensure a level playing field for all interested parties, to enable us to appoint a licensee who will engage and protect players, run the National Lottery with integrity and ensure the National Lottery continues to support good causes and their contribution to society.

Our priority is to continue to work to implement our decision and ensure a seamless and timely transition to the next licence, for the benefit of participants and good causes. These proceedings will not help that but we trust that Camelot will honour its obligations as the current licensee to cooperate in that transition, and we will continue to use the tools available to us to facilitate that process.

In order to protect the integrity of the process, we will not be able to discuss the specifics until litigation has concluded.

Last updated: 1 April 2022

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