U.K. Lottery operator wants to create global super-lottery
Posted: 2/9/2007 7:27:01 PM
Camelot will launch the first ever global lottery draw if it wins the right to run Britain's game for another 10 years — with players from all over the world generating jackpots of up to half a billion pounds (nearly one billion dollars).
The international lotto would dwarf the existing Euro Millions weekly game, in which nine countries have joined together to achieve astonishing top prizes of £125 million.
The new game would span the globe with some 50 countries already voicing interest in taking part, and sources believe that many hundreds of millions of punters across the planet would push jackpot payouts to unprecedented levels.
Camelot unveiled its ambitious plan as the deadline passed for bids to run Britain's National Lottery for another decade, starting in 2009.
The Government avoided the ultimate embarrassment of having no rivals come forward to challenge the existing operator, as India's largest lottery operator Sugal & Damani submitted a bid.
But in spite of desperate efforts by the National Lottery Commission regulator to encourage more bidders to come forward there was disappointment as several major players opted not to bother.
Sir Richard Branson's People's Lottery consortium, which lost out to Camelot during the last license fight seven years ago, concluded this time that the odds were too heavily stacked in favor of the current operator.
Officials had also hoped for other bids, including one from Greek-based global lottery operators Intralot.
The last contest in 2000 descended into chaos, blighted by months of legal challenges as Camelot were first excluded by regulators and then went on to win.
Since then ministers have struggled to find ways to encourage genuine competition for the next contest, including plans to break up Camelot's monopoly and let different companies to run separate games — which were later dropped.
Camelot launched its own bid with a slick and lavish presentation at London's National Gallery.
Their official bid document runs to 18,000 pages and weighs more than 450lb.
Sugal & Damani took a more low-profile approach, delivering their own huge document — which they said runs to 35,000 pages but cost a modest £230,000 to compile — to the Commission offices without fanfare.
The most eye-catching feature of Camelot's bid was the 'global lottery' plan, building on the success of the Euro Millions game launched two years ago.
The worldwide game would see scores of countries combining in a monthly game to create 100 or more millionaires per draw.
Once a year the prize structure would be changed to produce one mammoth jackpot, which could reach an astonishing £500 million.
A single winner scooping such a prize would instantly become one of the world's richest individuals.
Neither bidder revealed the key elements of their business plans publicly — including crucially their predicted income for 'good causes'.
During the 2000 license battle Camelot promised publicly to generate £15 billion for good causes over seven years, but after winning the license they quietly cut that figure to £10.5 billion.
Chief executive Dianne Thompson pledged to raise more for good causes than the current figure of around £1.4 billion per year.
Despite the refusal of many potential bidders to enter the license race she insisted Camelot was "not complacent", adding, "The UK National Lottery is already a world beater. We want the chance to continue to deliver for all the UK Good Causes and the people of Britain."
If Camelot wins, she said, it would increase ticket sales and take less profit out of the game.
Promised innovations include new 'lifestyle prizes' where winners could choose non-cash rewards including holidays, sporting event tickets or 'money-can't-buy' prizes such as evenings with celebrities.
Delhi-based Sugal & Damani pledged to bring in new games, and greater incentives for retailers to sell more tickets.
The company added, "Sugal & Damani's operations in India are highly efficient, handling almost double the number of transactions with comparable size of retailer terminals that exist in the UK."
Chairman Sugalchand Jain said he was "100 per cent confident" that his was the world's best lottery operator.
The National Lottery Commission now has six months to study the bids before announcing a winner in August.
Source: This is London
