Former Newspaper Owner And Millionaire Bids For National Lottery

Since it’s inception back in 1994, the National Lottery, run by Camelot, has come a long way. But over the last 25 years a lot has changed especially with new technological innovations making the lottery as we know it today a little lacklustre in comparison with other large lottery operators.

Already Contenders

Although the current license for the Lottery doesn’t actually run out until 2023, there is talk of contenders already when the tenders come up next year.One in particular, Richard Desmond, probably best known for owning the Express and Star newspapers, which he sold last year to Trinity Mirror for £127m, it’s looking like he has his eye on the UK National Lottery.Northern and Shell a company owned by Richard Desmond are writing a bid, stating the National Lottery needs bringing up to date and his team are the ones to make this happen.

‘Lacklustre’

Company director Martin Ellice said, “ It’s lost its life and become a bit lacklustre, a bit drab and a bit boring. We are very interested in bidding. It should be a British company that bids for the National Lottery.”Lotteries are not unfamiliar to the Millionaire, he owns the Health Lottery, where twelve local society lotteries hold 5 draws every week offering a top prize of £25,000.The Gambling Commission recently suggested the new license length would be solely determined by the market engagement.Chief Executive for The Gambling Commission said, “ The world is a lot different to when the current license was put in place and also 25 years ago when smartphones were just a twinkle in someone’s eye. Technological innovations offer a lot of opportunities in that space because you have a lot more information about players. You can see what they are doing and you can give them tools to help themselves manage their gambling.” 

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