Conduct of the inquiry
4. We took oral evidence at seven sessions between
November 2000 and January 2001. At the first session, we took
evidence from Camelot and The People's Lottery.[10]
At the second session, we took evidence from The Neighbourhood
Lottery Alliance,[11]
The Bingo Association,[12]
The Lotteries Council,[13]
Vernons Group,[14]
Littlewoods Leisure,[15]
and Professor Ian Walker and Ms Juliet Young of the Department
of Economics, University of Warwick. At the third session, we
took evidence from Lord Burns[16],
Chairman of the National Lottery Commission, Ms Harriet Spicer,
National Lottery Commissioner, and Mr Mark Harris, Chief Executive,
the National Lottery Commission. At the fourth session, we took
evidence from the chief executives of Sport England, the National
Lottery Charities Board, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts
Council of England.[17]
At that session we also took evidence from the National Council
for Voluntary Organisations[18]
and Dr Sue Fisher, Centre for Research into the Social Impact
of Gambling, University of Plymouth. At the fifth session, we
took evidence from the New Opportunities Fund.[19]
5. In the new year, we took further evidence from
the National Lottery Commission. In the final evidence session,
we took evidence from the Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP, Chief Secretary
to the Treasury,[20]
and the Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport.[21]
We received a range of written evidence, some of which is published
in Volume II of this Report, and the rest of which has been reported
to the House and is available for public inspection.[22]
6. As part of our inquiry we visited the offices
of Camelot in Watford, where we were briefed on aspects of the
operation of the current licence.[23]
In December 2000, we visited the United States of America where
we met officials of state lotteries from Maryland, New Jersey
and New York, representatives of GTech and AWI and independent
lottery experts.[24]
We have drawn on our experience in the United States in our considerations
of possible lottery developments in this country. We are most
grateful to everyone who submitted evidence or assisted during
our visits.
6 
