§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what discussions he had with the National Lottery Commission prior to the announcement that existing lottery terminals will be required to be replaced in the event of a new operator being appointed to run the national lottery; [102142]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing all existing lottery terminals; [102141]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost to the Good Causes Fund of writing off the value of existing lottery terminals. [102140]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThe decision to require the successful applicant for the new National Lottery licence to install new terminals was taken by the National Lottery Commission. I had a meeting with the National Lottery Commissioners on 29 November 1999 at which they briefed me on the contents of the announcement made the following day. The Commission is independent of Government and neither I, nor any other Minister, had any say in this decision.
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.
I have made no estimate of the cost of replacing the existing National Lottery terminals.