Allwyn completes Camelot UK acquisition
Camelot will become a wholly owned Allwyn subsidiary.
UK.- The Czech lottery giant Allwyn, winner of the Gambling Commission’s tender for the next UK National Lottery licence, has completed its acquisition of Camelot UK. The current National Lottery operator passes from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP) to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Allwyn.
The deal, which was announced in October and ends Camelot’s challenge against the Gambling Commission’s tender decision, was approved by the British regulator last month. All Camelot UK operations are part of the agreement, including its operation of the National Lottery until February 2024. Allwyn will then take over for the fourth National Lottery licence period, ending Camelot’s 30-year tenure.
Financial terms were not made public, but Sky News previously reported a figure of £100m. Allwyn said Camelot will be run separately from Allwyn and that the acquisition will allow for a smooth transition and “greater clarity and certainty” for the National Lottery, its employees and the causes it supports.
Camelot UK chief executive Nigel Railton, chairman Sir Hugh Robertson and executive director Matt Ridsdale have left the business upon completion of the sale. Allwyn has named Clare Swindell and Neil Brocklehurst, both already at Camelot, as co-chief executives while Sir Keith Mills has been appointed as chair.
Swindell joined Camelot as chief financial officer in 2017. She previously served as group CFO at Dunnhumby and worked in senior finance roles at Tesco. Brocklehurst has been at Camelot for 15 years and has served as commercial director since 2018.
Railton was with Camelot for 24 years, spending the last five as CEO after passing through the roles of financial controller, group chief financial officer and strategy director. Robertson, previously chair of the British Olympic Association, spent four-and-a-half years as Camelot UK’s independent non-executive chairman.
Allwyn has also reached a deal to buy the US business Camelot Lottery Solutions.
UK government to consider ending charity lottery ceiling
Meanwhile, the UK government has said that it will look into the possibility of ending the current cap on charity lottery sales. Charities have a £50m ceiling on lottery sales, but many wrote a joint letter to the government asking for the restriction to be scrapped.
The sales limit makes lotteries the only type of charity fundraising to be subject to a financial limit. A group of 100 charities, including the British Red Cross, Barnardo’s, The Royal Voluntary Service, WWF, The Wildlife Trusts, Lord’s Taverners and Breast Cancer Now, wrote to culture secretary Michelle Donelan MP to complain that the limit is “depriving them of millions of pounds in desperately needed funding”.
