How we respond

Players & winners

How have we responded to players’ concerns?

Players have raised concerns that people are unsure how lottery money is spent, the mechanics of games and odds, reliability and accessibility of services and support in case of a big win.

Both Camelot and the National Lottery Distribution Bodies have a shared interest in raising positive public awareness of Good Causes funding, so we are working with the National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU), our retailers and the BBC on this. New services proposed as part of the next lottery Licence will aim to highlight the recipients of Good Causes funding. Read more in Promotion & involvement.

In preparing our successful bid for the third lottery Licence we sought the input of more than 170,000 consumers. Their views played a major part in formulating the new games and services we will be rolling out over the course of the 10-year Licence.

We have a dedicated team which provides support for winners. Read more in supporting winners.

Public interest groups

How have we responded to public interest groups’ concerns?

Our public interest groups were extensively consulted in the preparation of our third Licence bid, particularly in relation to game design. In light of the deregulation of the gambling market they strongly recommended us to play a leading role in the setting of high standards of responsibility. We took on board their concerns and commissioned Nottingham Trent University to develop a new tool to help us assess whether there is anything in the structure of our games that might encourage problem play. The new tool, GAM-GaRD, was brought into use during 2007/08. Read more about GAM-GaRD.

In addition, in order to continuously improve as well as setting high standards for player protection we have led to establishment of two international responsible play standards for the lottery industry. Read more under Setting standards.

Governmental Bodies

How have we responded to governmental bodies’ concerns?

We supported the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Corporate Responsibility’s public inquiry on vulnerable customers, giving evidence to the inquiry and helping to promote the results. The APPG recommended that companies should do more to protect their most vulnerable customers, if necessary changing their products and the way they are marketed – closely reflecting our own approach. The newly developed game design tool called GAM-GaRD is a good example how we aim to continuously enhance our responsible gaming programme for protecting the most vulnerable groups.

Local communities

How have we responded to local communities’ concerns?

As a result of the strategic review we will be implementing a new community investment programme which will consist of employee volunteering, match-funding opportunities, team challenges and donations to the local communities in which we are operating. This is however, only an intermediate solution until the end of 2008/09 and as part of our overall Corporate Responsibility Strategy review we are going to decide on our approach to community investment for the third Licence later in 2008/09.

Employees

How have we responded to employees’ concerns?

In response to calls from our staff to offer more flexibility around benefits, we introduced the option of the annual bonus to be added to staffs’ pensions.

In addition, we worked on improving the Staff Forum’s effectiveness and are planning to undertake a strategic review of our employee engagement.

Retailers

How have we responded to retailers’ concerns?

Feedback from our Retailer Forum played a significant part in shaping our plans for the next lottery Licence, particularly retailer commission, the new terminal and digital screen network and the enhanced in-store look for the lottery. We have also put in place a dedicated team to support the roll out of network systems ready for the Licence.

Suppliers

How have we responded to suppliers’ concerns?

Our suppliers have responded positively to discussions about establishing shared responsibility standards in our working relationship and as a result reviews of our suppliers’ social and environmental impacts have now been made a formal part of the annual contract review. We are also committed to reviewing how the business conduct of both Camelot and our suppliers affects the relationship between us. As part of this work we introduced a new self-assessment process called supplier conduct review in 2007/08, to ensure that the governance structures of major suppliers are appropriate.

As part of the supplier workshop provided an overview of changes and expectations to key suppliers.

Shareholders

How have we responded to shareholders’ concerns?

Overall our shareholders were satisfied with all areas of this year’s Corporate Responsibility questionnaire, particularly on future strategy and the level of information supplied by us regarding the transition to the third Licence. However, it highlighted some areas that could potentially be improved further. These were communications, areas of corporate responsibility including company measures, environmental issues and our work in striving to be a leader in responsible play and stakeholder engagement. We will continue to improve our communications with our shareholders during 2008/09, particularly in the area of corporate responsibility, including our efforts on improving our environmental impact.

We will do this by producing a starter pack, along with a training package as well as investigating non-financial training for both members of the Board and Advisory Panel for Corporate Responsibility to attend. Results from this survey will be followed up with the shareholders.