Sale of Camelot

Ever since the National Lottery was formed in 1994 it has been operated by the Camelot Group Plc who has successfully bid for the license three times beating off stiff competition from big names such as Richard Branson. However the group made up of well known shareholders such as Cadbury Holdings, De Las Rue Holdings Plc, Fujitsu Services and Royal Mail Enterprises Ltd yesterday announced that the sale of Camelot to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) has been approved by the UK National Lottery Commission.

The commission have spent a long time scrutinising the proposal from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and are now satisfied that they have secured the clarification and improvements needed to let the sale for £398 million proceed. The commission needed to check that the OTPP was the right option for National Lottery to safeguard its future success.

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Mark Harris who is the Chief Executive of the National Lottery Commission, said: “Having completed our process of assessing the purchaser’s proposals and gained the necessary assurances to safeguard the Nation’s interest in the National Lottery, the Commission is looking forward to working with the new owners of Camelot to maintain the success of the National Lottery.”

The five Camelot shareholders agreed to sell their shares back in March after rejecting rival bids from CVC Capital Partners and French gaming giant La Française des Jeux. Lee Sienna from the OTPP said “We believe that Camelot is a world leading lottery operator and we are delighted to be involved with such a company which presents a unique, long term opportunity to earn attractive risk-adjusted returns”.

Do not worry though because this sale will have no negative effects on the Lotto or any of the other National Lottery games, the jackpots will still be life changing so keep buying those Lottery tickets because one day it could be you.