Camelot Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Camelot Group

Type	Public^{Note A}
Founded	March 27, 1993
Headquarters	Watford, United Kingdom
Key people	Dianne Thompson (CEO)
Area served	Great Britain
Industry	Lottery
Products	National Lottery^{Note B}
Revenue	£4776.1 Billion GBP
Operating income	£47.2 Million GBP
Net income	£32.4 Million GBP
Employees	900
Website	http://www.camelotgroup.co.uk

Camelot Group plc^{Note A} are the operators of the UK National Lottery. Camelot Group was awarded the National Lottery franchise in 1993 (though the lottery didn't start until 1994) and was re-awarded the franchise in 2001. Each franchise period runs for 8 years with the next franchise starting in 2009. The Government body 'The National Lottery Commission' is responsible for deciding who will be awarded the franchise. The way the franchise is awarded has caused some controversy with the state owned Royal Mail owning a 20% stake in Camelot Group.^[1]

1 2000/2001 Franchise Controversy
2 Shareholders
3 Income
4 References and Notes
5 External links

[edit] 2000/2001 Franchise Controversy

There were 2 companies competing for the National Lottery franchise in 2001, Camelot, the incumbent operator and a rival operator organised by Sir Richard Branson called The People's Lottery.

During the 2000 franchise bidding process, a technical problem with lottery terminals supplied by American company G-Tech came to light. It was discovered that this technical problem may have inadvertantly caused winners to be paid incorrect amounts and it was this problem and the relationship between Camelot and G-Tech that saw the National Lottery Commission recommend the lottery franchise be awarded to The People's Lottery. G-Tech originally were a shareholder in Camelot Group but they later sold their shareholding to Camelot Group with the remaining shareholders increasing their stakes from 16.66% to 20%.

In August 2000 the chair of the National Lottery Commission, Dame Helena Shovelton stunned both parties when she announced that neither party would be invited to run the National Lottery, claiming that neither party met the statutory requirements to run the the lottery. It was felt legal problems were responsible for the downfall of The People's Lottery bid whilst the relationship between G-Tech and Camelot was the reason Camelot would not be invited to run the lottery. Despite the fact that neither bid met the statutory requirements, the Commission still tried to award the franchise to The People's Lottery.

By September 2000 it was clear that despite neither party meeting the statutory requirements to run the lottery, the Commission was going to award the franchise to The People's Lottery. It was at this point that Camelot initiated legal action, taking the Commission to the high court for a judicial review. The High Court judges sided with Camelot, describing the Commissions decision as "conspicuously unfair". The National Lottery Commission responded by dismissing the Treasury legal team who had been advising them. Dame Helena resigned shortly afterwards and was replaced Lord Burns.

During November, the National Lottery Commission reopened the bidding process and both parties resubmitted their bids, the commission hoped to announce the winner by mid-December. On December 19, 2000 the commission announced that Camelot would be awarded the franchise, with voting 4-1 in favour of Camelot. One member would later resign from the commission over the whole process, deeply unhappy that Camelot had been reawarded the franchise. It was during the second bidding process that Camelot agreed to buy out shareholder G-Tech's stake in the company. Sir Richard Branson threatned to take further legal action but faced with the prospect of a lengthy and costly legal battle, one which could have eventually resulted in The National Lottery games being suspended, he backed down.

[edit] Shareholders

Following G-Tech being bought out by Camelot in 2001, there are now 5 equal shareholders, all of whom have been shareholders in Camelot since 1993/4.

Cadbury Schweppes
Thales Electronics plc (Shareholder since 2000 following takeover of Racal)
Fujitsu Services Ltd.
Royal Mail Enterprises Ltd.
De La Rue Holdings plc

[edit] Income

For every pound spent on the National Lottery, it is split in the following way

50p → Prize Fund
28p → Good Causes
12p → Government
5p → Retailers as Commission
4.5p → Camelot for Operating Costs
0.5p → Camelot for Profit

[edit] References and Notes

^ BBC News Online November 3, 2004

^{Note A} Although Camelot is a public limited company, it's entire share issue is owned by 5 companies, as detailed above.
^{Note B} The National Lottery brand is owned by The National Lottery Commission and licenced to Camelot as part of the franchise agreements under which Camelot operate The National Lottery.