Summary
Since 2012, Camelot has made profits well in excess of what was envisaged in the original 2009 licence, whilst returns for good causes have dropped, by 15% in 2016–17 compared to the previous year. The Gambling Commission did not include a reopener or break clause in the 14-year contract. This means that the terms of the contract can only be changed with Camelot’s agreement. Camelot’s profits were 122% higher in 2016–17 than in 2009–10. The drop in returns for good causes was because more players bought scratch cards, whilst sales of draw based games, with higher returns to good causes, declined. In the context of falling income for good causes, the Department needs to be wary of the risk that Lottery funding programmes become unaffordable. It also needs to give lottery distributors better data on lottery sales so that the distributors are better placed to plan their grant programmes. The Department, Camelot and the Lottery distributors all need to work together to better publicise the benefits to good causes as part of efforts to reverse the recent decline in sales.
5 April 2018