While you can't quite call it the dawning of a new age, current and future U.K. National Lottery operator Camelot has indicated that change is in store for the world's most famous lottery. Among ideas being thrown around is selling tickets via new media outlets by 2002, a spokesperson for Camelot has confirmed.
At least two companies are working with Camelot to develop mobile telephone ticket sales, while the group is also negotiating with NTL to develop an interactive television service.
Another deal is in the works with Internet portal Freeserve to create a co-branded National Lottery website. According to a press release issued by Freeserve, the company "will work with Camelot in an initially exclusive partnership to develop and enable the secure online sales of National Lottery tickets."
The Camelot spokesperson indicated, however, that no contracts have been signed with NTL or Freeserve.
Before progress kicks down the door, however, there could still be a few loose ends to tidy up. Camelot could have to put changes in the works on hold to fend off potential legal action by losing bidder Richard Branson, whose The People's Lottery consortium also lost to Camelot in 1994. Whether Branson will pursue a legal challenge is up in the air, as he's put off the decision until after the New Year.
Branson was supposed to meet with legal experts today to discuss whether, after having agreed that The People's Lottery would raise more "good causes" funds, the National Lottery Commission
should have awarded the lottery license to them instead of Camelot. Branson reportedly invested £3 million of his own money in this second attempt to win the license.
Culture Secretary Chris Smith, meanwhile, expressed his dissatisfaction with how the selection process was handled. "I am not entirely happy with the process," he told The Times, "because I think anyone looking back over the last five or six months has to ask whether this is the right way to make a decision between two rival bidders for a major lottery franchise."
In a separate interview with BBC Radio 4's "Today" show, Smith denied that the government had failed to follow its pledge to seek a non-profit operator, saying that they hadn't promised to select only a non-profit operator.