Camelot rival planning UK National Lottery takeover?

The Financial Times reports that Richard Desmond, the billionaire owner of the Daily and Sunday Express newspapers, is planning to bid for the rights to run the UK National Lottery when the franchise comes up for renewal in 2019.

The current operator of the lottery, Camelot, is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund in Canada, which acquired Camelot for almost GBP 390 million seven years ago (see previous report).

The FT report claims that Desmond’s Northern and Shell company will bid for the contract, and notes that in addition to his newspaper holdings Desmond also operates the UK Health Lottery. That enterprise has struggled over the six years since it launched and has reportedly lost GBP 160 million.

Martin Ellice, joint managing director of Northern and Shell, told the Financial Times: “We’re going to go for it [the National Lottery licence], irrespective. We’re in the lottery business now.”

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