Sky executives are to join up to 40 other companies at a question and answer session organised today by the National Lottery Commission to go over the contract, which will run for 10 years from 2009.
Bids will be invited by the end of this year and the commission will choose a winner in summer next year. It is expected to put emphasis on extending ticket sales to new channels such as TV, mobile phones and the internet.
Sky currently sells National Lottery tickets via its red-button interactive TV platform Sky Active and is in the process of extending its satellite service to mobile and internet delivery.
The interest from Rupert Murdoch's media empire in the contract may not go down well with parts of the political establishment, which resisted the Australian-born Murdoch's attempts to establish BSkyB in the UK.
Sky sought to play down its interest, with a spokesman saying: "Sky routinely looks at a range of commercial opportunities at any given time."
It is believed that Sky would rather take part in a consortium than lead its own bid. Camelot itself is a five-strong consortium formed by Cadbury Schweppes, Royal Mail, De La Rue, Thales and Fujitsu. Camelot is seen by some as a licence to print money -- it likely to have made £49m in profit in the year to March.
Camelot is seen as the favourite, having won the first two seven-year licences and revealed at the weekend that it has beaten its first-year fundraising target in its effort to raise £1.5bn for the Olympic Games.
In the previous tenders, Sir Richard Branson and Ladbrokes went up against Camelot.
Branson has not ruled out bidding a third time, while Ladbrokes is expected to bid in partnership with Greek lottery operator Intralot.
A host of other companies, ranging from foreign lottery operators to telecommunications companies and investment banks, have also registered their interest.
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