Camelot withdraws National Lottery’s legal challenge against Allwyn with eyes now on IGT

Camelot withdrew its legal challenge against rival Allwyn last night over the National Lottery licence, paving the way for the Czech firm to takeover the lucrative £6.4bn contract government contract in 2024.

The news ends months of speculation about the future of the lottery, and means that Camelot will no longer pursue the case in the Court of Appeal next week, which could have led to suspension of the lottery.

Allwyn said in a statement last night that it “very much welcomes this decision and looks forward to cooperating with Camelot and the Gambling Commission on the transition process.”

Camelot, which has operated the UK National Lottery since 1994, said in a statement this morning that the decision was rooted by a concern surrounding legal fees.

A spokesperson for the company, which is notably owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, said: “It had become clear that the potential damages covered by the undertakings needed for the appeal to proceed would have been too large, and involved too great a commercial risk, for it to be reasonable to provide them”.

“Camelot is no longer seeking to prevent the enabling agreement being signed prior to the procurement trial which will now take place in January/February,” the spokesperson added.

The crux of Camelot’s argument centred around the gambling regulator’s decision to award the licence to operate to Allwyn back in March, stating that the Gambling Commission failed to “correctly and lawfully” evaluate bids and that it “committed manifest errors.”

While the regulator has since acknowledged Camelot’s decision to back out of the legal action, it said , it wasn’t aware of changes to IGT’s position – which also dispute the decision – and therefore the appeal and suspension will continue until resolved.

IGT’s appeal remains and is due to be heard in the High Court next week until any further comments are made.

Allwyn, which is headed by the Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, is reported to have said it would slash ticket prices from £2 to £1 and hike the amount of money going towards good causes and UK sporting activities, forecasting £38bn for good causes during the 10-year licence.

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