Good causes ‘won’t suffer’ with Camelot’s demise

The Gambling Commission does not accept Camelot’s claims that good causes will suffer if the right to stage the draw is given to newcomer Allwyn Entertainment, the High Court heard.

The regulator gave the fourth national lottery licence to Allwyn earlier this year as the ‘preferred bidder’, triggering a legal challenge from Camelot UK Ltd.

The Commission insists Allwyn should be issued with the licence after it won the National Lottery licence competition in August 2020.

It is applying to ‘lift the automatic suspension’ preventing the final award to Allwyn at a two day ‘balance of convenience’ hearing.

If the ban is lifted Allwyn can go ahead with its plan to take over the lottery by February 2024.

Formerly known as Sazka, Europe’s largest operator has fended off three competitors to operate the draw after battling with the Canadian owned Camelot, Italy’s Sisal and media tycoon Richard Desmond.

The company currently operates lotteries in the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

Camelot today (thurs) argued against lifting the suspension.

Sarah Hannaford, QC, for the Gambling Commission, called the points made by Camelot ‘wholly bad’.

Lord David Pannick, QC, for the incumbent company, earlier told the court that any damages that might be paid to Camelot would come out of the good causes funds.

Ms Hannaford said this would be a matter for the secretary of state and the treasury.

She added that the suspension, which delays moving on to the fourth licence, will diminish funding to good causes.

‘The losses envisaged by the Commission to good causes…are much bigger than the damages claim put forward by Camelot.’

Lord Pannick also said that keeping the stay in place would allow the Commission to comply with statutory obligations set out in The National Lottery Act 1993.

Ms Hannaford said that lifting the suspension was ‘overwhelmingly’ in the public interest and in compliance with the Act to which the regulating body is bound.

Responding to allegations that Camelot UK scored higher than Allwyn in the bidding process, Ms Hannaford said this was ‘simply wrong’.

‘You do not have to score the best on every question to win.’

The Gambling Commission went on to say that although the lottery competition rules dictate that ‘award of the licence does not occur until any challenge to the defendant’s decision has been resolved’, its barrister made clear that the rules say the challenge must be resolved ‘to the satisfaction of the Commission’.

‘The Commission will be satisfied…such that it may place the contract once the automatic suspension has been lifted,’ Ms Hannaford said.

She next shot down the argument that an expedited trial, during which Camelot will bring its legal challenge against the regulating body, will mean that the current suspension will only pose a short delay of relatively little significance.

Ms Hannaford said there were ‘significant difficulties’ in getting to an expedited trial in October of this year and that such a trial would still leave insufficient time for Allwyn to transition.

Finally, of the solutions proposed by Camelot in favour of keeping the suspension in place, Ms Hannaford rejected the submission that it was ‘all very straightforward’.

‘But the options that he has put forward…they are not simply straightforward and risk free for my client and for Allwyn.’

She concluded by rounding up the ‘distinguishing points’ for lifting the suspension – the compromises that must be made if alternative solutions are adopted, the very significant likely losses to good causes, the loss of user benefits and player protection and the general benefits of the fourth licence.

Lord Pannick earlier said Camelot, through the National Lottery, has raised over £45 billion for good causes in its 28-year tenure.

It also funds more than 600,000 projects ranging from the massive scale of the Olympic Games down to smaller community activities across the country, the court heard.

‘Hundreds of thousands of projects and many more will suffer and they will suffer from the fact that the licence has been unlawfully awarded to Allwyn and they will suffer for ten years,’ he said.

Mrs Justice O’Farrell has reserved judgement on whether to lift the automatic suspension until a later date.