{"id":206953,"date":"2022-03-28T12:31:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T19:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=206953"},"modified":"2022-03-28T13:19:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T20:19:41","slug":"camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Camelot to Launch Legal Action in Fight for $105B UK Lottery Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK National Lottery operator Camelot plans to mount a legal challenge to the loss of its contract in the coming days, The Daily Telegraph<\/em> claims.<\/p>\n

\"UK
Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, seen above, whose Allwyn Entertainment has won the UK National Lottery contract. But questions have been asked in British parliament about his business ties to Russia. (Image: Novinky.cz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Camelot, which has run the lottery since its inception in 1994, failed in its rebid for the contract. That\u2019s a deal that could be worth \u00a380 billion (US$105 billion) over the next decade, according to analysts.<\/p>\n

On March 15, the UK Gambling Commission announced the successful bidder as Allwyn Entertainment<\/a>, a UK subsidiary of Czech group Sazka, Europe\u2019s largest lottery operator. Sazka is owned by Czech oil and gas tycoon Karel Komarek.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse for Camelot, just days later, the UKGC handed the operator a \u00a33.15 million (US$4.17 million) fine<\/a>. Camelot was found to have told as many as 20,000 winners they were losers over a four-year period because of a system glitch. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But with so much at stake, legal action was always possible, if not probable. Now, Camelot is expected to demand a judicial review of the process, as well as a procurement challenge in the UK\u2019s High Court, the Telegraph<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

Scores \u2018Adjusted\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Camelot is expected to allege that the regulator adjusted the bidders\u2019 scores after Camelot initially came out on top. A \u201crisk factor\u201d discount of up to 15% was supposed to applied to the financial projections made by each bidder.<\/p>\n

\n

This discount was initially factored into the Allwyn bid, which would have made Camelot the winner. But it was scrapped in the final adjudication, the Telegraph<\/em> claims. Crucially, Allwyn claimed it would raise \u00a338 billion (US$50 billion) for good causes, a far greater amount than Camelot\u2019s projections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Camelot\u2019s alleged early lead in the race may have led to premature media reports that the incumbent operator had retained its license. The UKGC later denied these reports to Casino.org<\/em>, just weeks before handing the license to Allwyn.<\/p>\n

Russian Ties <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, questions have been asked in parliament about Komarek\u2019s business ties to Russia. Labour shadow minister for Tech, Gambling, and the Digital Economy Alex Davies-Jones this week asked for clarity over the future lottery operator\u2019s relationship with Russia\u2019s state-owned energy giant, Gazprom.<\/p>\n

\n

In 2016, Kormarek’s company, MND, built an underground gas storage facility in the Czech Republic in partnership with the Russian group. Komarek said in a statement last month that he took the decision \u201cmany years ago\u201d to divest himself of his Russian assets, with the exception of \u201ca gas terminal and the 50\/50 joint venture with Gazprom in the Czech Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He has publicly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the UKGC said it is \u201csatisfied that no application is impacted by sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UK National Lottery operator Camelot plans to mount a legal challenge to the loss of its contract in the coming days, The Daily Telegraph claims. Camelot, which has run the lottery since its inception in 1994, failed in its rebid for the contract. That\u2019s a deal that could be worth \u00a380 billion (US$105 billion) over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":206955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCamelot to Launch Legal Action to Fight for $105B UK Lottery Contract<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UK National Lottery operator Camelot is prepared to fight for the contract, which the UKGC awarded to Karel Komarek\u2019s Allwyn.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Camelot to Launch Legal Action to Fight for $105B UK Lottery Contract\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UK National Lottery operator Camelot is prepared to fight for the contract, which the UKGC awarded to Karel Komarek\u2019s Allwyn.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-28T19:31:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-28T20:19:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/czech.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/\",\"name\":\"Camelot to Launch Legal Action to Fight for $105B UK Lottery Contract\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/czech.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-28T19:31:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-28T20:19:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"UK National Lottery operator Camelot is prepared to fight for the contract, which the UKGC awarded to Karel Komarek\u2019s Allwyn.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/camelot-to-launch-legal-action-to-fight-for-105b-uk-lottery-contract\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/czech.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/czech.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674,\"caption\":\"Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, whose Allwyn Entertainment has won the UK National Lottery contract. 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