That suggests an overall change in focus, with the National Lottery being the potential crown jewel in a budding gambling empire. In order to make that happen, however, his firm would need to come out on top in the bidding process against Camelot, which has now been running the lottery for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
One of the strategies Northern and Shell may pursue is to paint Camelot as an outsider. The company has been owned by the Ontario Teachers\u2019 Pension Plan since 2010, when the Canadian fund bought the company for \u00a3389 million ($510 million).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe British people would not mind a British company doing the British lottery,\u201d Northern and Shell group editorial director Paul Ashford told the Financial Times<\/em>, which first reported Desmond\u2019s planned bid.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nCamelot has resisted increased competition in the UK\u2019s lottery industry, saying that more firms in the business could reduce the share of ticket sales that go to winners and good causes.<\/p>\n
Camelot\u2019s time as the operator of the National Lottery has not been without controversy. Last year, the Gambling Commission fined the company \u00a33 million ($3.93 million) for an \u201cisolated incident\u201d in which a player likely committed fraud to claim a \u00a32.5 million ($3.28 million) prize.<\/p>\n
Overall, the National Lottery has awarded more than \u00a363 billion ($82.6 billion) in prizes since its inception<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billionaire newspaper owner Richard Desmond is planning to submit a bid for the UK\u2019s National Lottery, hoping to take over the business when an opportunity to acquire the lucrative franchise comes up again in 2019. Currently, the UK\u2019s largest lottery is operated by a company known as Camelot, which has run the drawings since 1994. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":62849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Richard Desmond Plans to Bid for UK National Lottery<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n