Who Operates the UK Lottery
The UK lottery is currently operated by the Camelot Group plc. Every eight years a bid is opened to see what company will run the national lottery. This process is overseen by the National Lottery Commission, an organization not related to the British government, which also oversees fair treatment of players.
Camelot first began in 1993 and was supported by shareholders like Cadbury Schweppes, Thales Electronics plc, Fujitsu Services Ltd., Royal Mail Enterprises Ltd., and De La Rue Holdings plc. GTECH was also a shareholder, but it was bought out following complications that affected the bidding.
Executives like Tim Holley were put in charge of Camelot being promised large bonuses. When the Labor government took note of the massive amounts of money being made by executives in Camelot, it became a bit of an embarrassment to the company.
Camelot decided to run in the bidding for the national lottery in 2001. There competitor, The People's Lottery, was fairly convinced that they would win the bid after the indecent with GTECH. It was found that lottery terminals made by GTECH had a technical problem that made them give out the wrong amounts of winnings. GTECH sold their shares and Camelot continued the race to win the bid.
In a turn of events the National Lottery Commission chair, Dame Helena, told the companies that they both did not meet the requirements to run the lottery. Even so, the National Lottery Commission still tried to give the company to The People's Lottery.
Seeing the injustice of this, Camelot took the National Lottery Commission to court. The High Court awarded the case to Camelot saying that the Commission's decision was conspicuously unfair. The National Lottery Commission fired their Treasury team that had made the decision.
Later on the bidding reopened and Camelot won 4-1. The shareholders remain the same today except for the bought-out GTECH. It is now running the largest lottery franchise in the UK and raising money for various causes. Their biggest lottery game is known as the Lotto, and almost all of their games are done through scratch cards and pick the number games.
The money raised by the UK lottery is divided into several different categories. Most of the money for every pound spent goes to the prize money (50p) or various good causes (28p). 12p goes to the British government and 5p goes to the people who well the lottery tickets and such. Camelot takes in 5p per pound, using 4.5 of it to cover their costs and saving 0.5 for their own profit.
Camelot has since run the UK lottery franchise well and it has flourished. After sales started decreasing they started a new campaign came out with lower costs.
This is when the many lottery game was changed to the Lotto, and since more people have started participating. In a recent campaign, one of the lottery games raises money for the Olympics and the Paralympics to be held in the year 2012.
Camelot first began in 1993 and was supported by shareholders like Cadbury Schweppes, Thales Electronics plc, Fujitsu Services Ltd., Royal Mail Enterprises Ltd., and De La Rue Holdings plc. GTECH was also a shareholder, but it was bought out following complications that affected the bidding.
Executives like Tim Holley were put in charge of Camelot being promised large bonuses. When the Labor government took note of the massive amounts of money being made by executives in Camelot, it became a bit of an embarrassment to the company.
Camelot decided to run in the bidding for the national lottery in 2001. There competitor, The People's Lottery, was fairly convinced that they would win the bid after the indecent with GTECH. It was found that lottery terminals made by GTECH had a technical problem that made them give out the wrong amounts of winnings. GTECH sold their shares and Camelot continued the race to win the bid.
In a turn of events the National Lottery Commission chair, Dame Helena, told the companies that they both did not meet the requirements to run the lottery. Even so, the National Lottery Commission still tried to give the company to The People's Lottery.
Seeing the injustice of this, Camelot took the National Lottery Commission to court. The High Court awarded the case to Camelot saying that the Commission's decision was conspicuously unfair. The National Lottery Commission fired their Treasury team that had made the decision.
Later on the bidding reopened and Camelot won 4-1. The shareholders remain the same today except for the bought-out GTECH. It is now running the largest lottery franchise in the UK and raising money for various causes. Their biggest lottery game is known as the Lotto, and almost all of their games are done through scratch cards and pick the number games.
The money raised by the UK lottery is divided into several different categories. Most of the money for every pound spent goes to the prize money (50p) or various good causes (28p). 12p goes to the British government and 5p goes to the people who well the lottery tickets and such. Camelot takes in 5p per pound, using 4.5 of it to cover their costs and saving 0.5 for their own profit.
Camelot has since run the UK lottery franchise well and it has flourished. After sales started decreasing they started a new campaign came out with lower costs.
This is when the many lottery game was changed to the Lotto, and since more people have started participating. In a recent campaign, one of the lottery games raises money for the Olympics and the Paralympics to be held in the year 2012.
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