Licensing of the National Lottery

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is considering whether to change the licensing regime for the UK National Lottery to allow for licences to be awarded to competing lottery operators in the near future. This proposal is prompted by concerns that the incumbent operator, Camelot, could face limited competition when its current licence to operate the lottery expires in 2009 if no other providers have entered the market before that date. Frontier (London) was commissioned to produce an independent report that evaluated the likely impact of this proposal on the money raised for good causes. Frontier's report analyses how the money raised for good causes depends on the strength of bidding competition for licences, as well as on the strength of competition in the market between licensees. The report identifies the conditions under which offering multiple operating licences could lead to a better outcome for good causes and highlights the risks associated with moving away from the established single operator approach. The report can be downloaded here.