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Camelot

Serving the nation’s dreams

Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

At Camelot we are all proud to have secured the third Licence to operate The National Lottery, following a two-year competition process. We are now working hard to ensure that the ambitious plans we outlined in our bid can become a reality when the new Licence begins in February 2009 – and that the process of transition to new games and systems is as efficient as possible.

In running the Licence competition, the National Lottery Commission went to great efforts to ensure a level playing field. We co-operated fully in this process, making large amounts of confidential data about the operation of the lottery available to competitors. We faced strong competition from the respected Indian lottery firm Sugal & Damani, but after what it described as a "rigorous evaluation" the NLC awarded the new Licence to Camelot.

We dedicated more than 47,500 working days and an estimated £20 million to the research and production of our bid. We sought the input of more than 170,000 consumers across the UK to ensure that our proposals were focused on the needs of National Lottery players and the public.

Over the course of the new 10-year Licence, a major investment programme will bring a range of innovations to The National Lottery – but we will continue to ensure that corporate responsibility is at the heart of all we do.

By the start of the new Licence on 1 February 2009 we will have installed at least 27,500 new terminals in our retail partners across the UK – around 1,300 more than are currently in operation – at our retail partners across the UK. The terminals will be operated on a new high speed satellite network, designed to be more reliable, faster and able to cope with all the enhancements planned for The National Lottery over the term of the new Licence. We will introduce a new in-store look for the lottery at retail, including the installation of 27,500 digital screens – the largest network of its kind in the world – which we will use to bring the latest lottery news to players as well as a range of community services and information. At a time when retailer margins are declining in some categories, we will also be increasing the retail commission on Scratchcards by a fifth – from 5% to 6% of Scratchcard sales.

We will introduce a range of new games, including:

• A World Lottery Draw, designed to create up to 100 millionaires in each draw. We have already received expressions of interest from lotteries in 48 states and countries around the world
• Limited Edition Games, a range of frequently-refreshed draw games based on topical themes and big cultural moments such as movie premieres, festivals and sporting events – including the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

We will make an increased investment in marketing over the course of the Licence and introduce one-to-one marketing techniques, giving players the opportunity to receive more targeted communications, including details of their favourite games, local retailers and Good Cause recipients. Our players will also be able to obtain a special card, giving them the ability to store their favourite numbers and an additional facility to register to receive winning number notifications.

We will continue our commitment to Operation Child, the unique mystery shopper scheme. It employs young people who are 16 or older, but who look younger, in order to ensure that retailers are vigilant against underage play.

We have also already introduced a raft of further measures to protect players and vulnerable groups:

• Minimising risk: a new independently developed risk assessment tool, GAM-GaRD, was independently developed by the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, to determine and minimise the potential risk to vulnerable groups from any proposed game. This will operate alongside the existing Game Design Protocol
• Age verification: additional robust and independently-endorsed age verification measures in player registration for all new channels
• Player limits: an expanded range of self-imposed limits for interactive players covering how often they play, how long they play for and how much they spend.

We are also committed to strengthening the link between playing the lottery and Good Causes funding in the new Licence. Camelot will continue to support and invest in the National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU) to raise greater awareness of the ways in which lottery money has been spent.

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