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| Camelot gets nod for UK lottery | |
| (21 minutes later) | |
| Camelot has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the latest licence to run the UK's National Lottery. | Camelot has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the latest licence to run the UK's National Lottery. |
| The licence, the third in the lottery's history, will come into effect in February 2009 and last for 10 years. | The licence, the third in the lottery's history, will come into effect in February 2009 and last for 10 years. |
| Camelot has run the National Lottery since its launch in 1994 and said it expects to conclude talks with the National Lottery Commission this month. | Camelot has run the National Lottery since its launch in 1994 and said it expects to conclude talks with the National Lottery Commission this month. |
| Camelot had been facing competition from Indian company Sugal & Damani, which wanted to take over operations. | Camelot had been facing competition from Indian company Sugal & Damani, which wanted to take over operations. |
| "We now need to agree the final form of the licence," said Dianne Thompson, Camelot's chief executive. | |
| "The competition is not over until this has been done." | |
| Winning ticket | |
| As well as providing a broad range of games for people to play, lottery operators must also generate as much cash as possible for good causes. | |
| Critics of Camelot have complained that the firm has not made enough money. | |
| Total spending on lottery tickets fell last year to £4.91bn from £5.01bn while money raised for good causes also dropped to £1.24bn from £1.29bn. | |
| The successful bidder had to show that it could manage the transition to the next licence smoothly, a requirement experts believed would favour Camelot. | |
| Besides its other responsibilities, the next Lottery operator will be expected to hit targets for raising funds for the 2012 Olympics. | |
| About £2.2bn is currently earmarked from Lottery funds for the Olympics, with £750m expected to come from specially-designated games. | |
| Camelot is also promising to launch the world's first global lottery draw as part of its package of games, which will create up to 100 millionaires every month. |