Camelot UK

Origins and the first licence

Camelot was put together in 1994 by a consortium of GTech, Cadbury Schweppes, ICL, De La Rue and Racal specifically to compete for the first UK National Lottery licence. The consortium won the competition, and Camelot ran the first draw on 19 November 1994. The early years were commercially successful but politically noisy: the company faced criticism over the scale of the operator margin and executive pay, and the 2001 licence renewal was contested by a rival bid fronted by Richard Branson. Camelot won that contest and then held off challengers again in 2009, establishing itself as the only company to operate the franchise across its first three licence periods.

Products and distribution

The centre of Camelot's offer was the main national draw game, branded as Lotto from 2002, alongside supplementary draw games such as Thunderball, Lotto HotPicks and Set for Life. It also became the UK operator for EuroMillions when the pan-European game launched in 2004. Sales were built on a physical retail estate of tens of thousands of terminals in shops, kiosks and petrol forecourts, supplemented from the 2000s by the national-lottery.com website, a mobile app and online-only Instant Win Games. By the final years of the licence a growing share of National Lottery sales came through digital channels.

Ownership and scale

The original consortium ownership was gradually sold down, and by the 2010s Camelot was owned by Canada's Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. The business generated multi-billion-pound annual ticket sales and correspondingly large transfers to National Lottery good causes funds. At the time of the handover it employed around 1,000 people, with headquarters in Watford, Hertfordshire.

Business model and regulation

Camelot operated as a regulated monopoly franchise holder rather than a conventional iGaming operator. Its duties were set out in the National Lottery licence awarded under UK law, with oversight by the Gambling Commission, previously the National Lottery Commission. The company took on the cost and risk of building and running the lottery infrastructure, while the government set the regulatory framework for games, prizes, player protection and the distribution of proceeds to good causes.

Market position and competitors

Within the UK, Camelot's National Lottery products sat in a regulated category of their own; its main lottery-adjacent competitor was the Health Lottery, launched in 2011 with a different legal structure. Internationally, Camelot was often cited alongside other major lottery operators, although its distinctive feature was the long-running monopoly tenure over one of the largest state lotteries in the world.

The fourth licence and handover

The fourth licence competition, held in 2020–2022, ended Camelot's tenure. In February 2022 the Gambling Commission selected Allwyn as preferred bidder. Camelot challenged the decision in the High Court and Court of Appeal, but the challenges failed. Allwyn subsequently agreed to acquire Camelot UK and related businesses from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, completed the purchase during 2023, and formally took over the National Lottery licence on 1 February 2024. The Camelot brand was then phased out, bringing almost three decades of Camelot-operated National Lottery history to a close.