The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) have delayed the fourth license for the National Lottery for the second time allowing more consideration for the applicants.The current contract lays with Camelot and will now be extended for a further six months. The fourth license is set to begin in February 2024. The second phase of the competition procedure is extended by four weeks and a further six weeks for the evaluation process.The UKGC has allowed the extra timeframe for applicants to streamline and improve their applications for future evaluation.
Applicants Request Extension
The successful applicant is set to be announced in February 2022, but this is not set in stone due to market changes due to the impact of the pandemic.Bids for the fourth National Lottery will be finalised and laid before a committee in September 2021 with the successful applicant due to be announced at the end of the month. However, the extra time has been granted by the UKGC after several applicants requested more time to prepare their final bids. The original handover date was set for August 2023 but as mentioned above the new date for handover will be February 2024.
‘Fair and Transparent’
The UKGC explained the extension allows applicants have a ‘fair and transparent bidding process‘, providing the fairest outcome not only for players of the National Lottery but also the many causes who benefit from National Lottery funding.This is the second extension to the timeline; in May 2020 the bidding was delayed due to the pandemic. To date, the competition amongst applicants has proved a fierce battle and the license is said to be the most appealing contract in the UK’s gambling industry.