LONDON (Brand Republic) 鈥 WCRS could be in with a chance of hanging on to its £20m National Lottery account, as Camelot re-entered the race following a high court ruling that the Lottery Commission abused its power by negotiating exclusively with rival bidder Sir Richard Branson.
Camelot bosses and the Commission are meeting today to discuss the company鈥檚 bid. It has been given a month to come up with a revised plan, which could include severing its links with G-Tech, the US lottery equipment supplier which scuppered Camelot鈥檚 chances the first time around, due to a cover-up of defective software.
Meanwhile, the Commission has been stung with £250,000 court costs. Mr Justice Richards said the Commission showed a 鈥渕arked lack of even-handedness鈥 when it rejected both bids for the seven-year licence but then entered talks with the People鈥檚 Lottery, headed up by Sir Richard along with partners such as J Walter Thompson and Kellogg.
He said, 鈥淭he Commission, while intending to be fair, has decided on a procedure that results in conspicuous unfairness to Camelot -鈥 such unfairness as to render the decision unlawful.鈥
Dianne Thompson, Camelot chief executive designate, said her confidence in the Commission was 鈥渂adly shaken鈥, but stressed she was delighted to be back in the race. 鈥淭hat is all we wanted,鈥 she said.
鈥淚t is clear that the best way to secure a competitive process is to run a race with more than one competitor and to allow that race to finish. We seek fair and equal treatment. We await news from Dame Helena Shovelton [of the Commission] to see how the Commission will restore confidence that the process will be fair.鈥
The Commission maintained it acted lawfully, adding that it had chosen to deal only with the People鈥檚 Lottery because it could be corrected more quickly and was more generous to the good causes.
This weekend is the deadline for the People鈥檚 Lottery, which claims it has satisfied the Commission鈥檚 demand for a £50m bank guarantee and the protection of players鈥 prize money.