§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) who will own the lottery terminals which his Department has decided should become obsolete; and what value has been put on them; [101515]
(2) what extra costs will be incurred in terms of the provision of new lottery machines as a consequence of the decision that the existing ones should be replaced; and if this cost falls on (a) the sum available for good causes and (b) other budgets; [101517]
(3) what were the installation costs of the initial batch of lottery terminals; and what (a) direct and (b) indirect costs were met from public funds; [101516]
(4) who took the decision to scrap existing lottery terminals. [101514]
§ Kate HoeyThe decision to require the successful applicant for the new National Lottery licence to install new terminals was taken by the National Lottery Commission. The Commission is independent of Government.
The National Lottery terminals are the property of the National Lottery operator, Camelot Group plc, and will remain Camelot's property when the current operating licence expires. My Department does not hold information on the installation costs or the present value of these terminals. The full cost of purchasing and installing the terminals was met by Camelot from its operating costs: no part of the cost of the terminals was met from public funds.
The National Lottery Commission has a statutory responsibility to ensure that the National Lottery is run with all due propriety, to protect the interests of players, and subject to satisfying those two criteria, to maximise the amount the Lottery raises for good causes. The Commission took the view that a competition is the best way to ensure that the amount raised for good causes is maximised, and therefore insisted on new technology for National Lottery terminals to remove an obstacle to competition. The Commission's decision will have no impact on other budgets.