UK’s Fourth National Lottery Licence has come into effect on February 1 and Allwyn has received the formal green light to operate the National Lottery. The licence was issued by the UK Gambling Commission and it will last for 10 years.
Money from the National Lottery Will Go To Good Causes
Allwyn’s main task will be to deliver growth to the National Lottery, while also keeping it safe for its participants. UKGC’s CEO, Andrew Rhodes shared that this is a historic moment as it marks the “first time the National Lottery has changed operator.” He added that the National Lottery celebrates its 30th birthday and made a huge impact in the UK during those three decades.
John Tanner, senior responsible owner of the Fourth National Lottery Licence and an executive director at UKGC thanked both Allwyn as the new operator and Camelot as the previous operator. He noted that many people worked hard to make sure that the National Lottery remained in safe hands for the next 10 years.
Allwyin is now the first operator not named Camelot to run the National Lottery. The Fourth Licence, which was granted to Allwyn, introduced a few changes. One of those changes is the introduction of the so-called “Incentive Mechanism.”
This means that all products from the National Lottery will make equal contributions towards Returns to Good Causes. Allwyn will have profits only if the Returns to Good Causes go up.
Ever since its launch in 1994, the National Lottery in the UK is one of the world’s biggest lotteries. In its 30 years of existence, players raised more than £48 billion for around 700,000 good causes in the country. These causes were across several verticals, including heritage, communities, arts and sports.
IGT Was Also in the Pocket for the National Lottery Licence
IGT was also one of the companies that was in the race to receive the National Lottery licence. However, after the UKGC announced that would grant it to Allwyn, IGT decided to file charges. The Court of Appeal gave IGT permission to challenge the decision back in 2022.
Camelot, the former licence holder, also appealed the decision back then. This operator even went a step further and launched a High Court challenge against the decision. As such, the formal issuance of the lottery licence to Allwyn had to be suspended at the time. However, Camelot’s case was dropped in late 2022.
After a year, the Court of Appeal decided that IGT didn’t have a legal standing to ask for damages from the UKGC. IGT appealed the ruling in September but dropped it at the start of 2024. The Court of Appeal granted the company’s request to dismiss the appeal on January 9.
As such, IGT stated that it will not pursue any further damages against the UK Gambling Commission. In a public statement. The UKGC stated that the competition for the licence was “fair and robust” and that the process was conducted “fairly and lawfully.”
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