§ Mr. SwireTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the licence to operate the National Lottery issued by the National Lottery Commission to the Camelot Group Plc needed the approval of the European Commission. [109615]
§ Mr. CabornThe licence to operate the National Lottery issued by the National Lottery Commission to Camelot Group Plc did not need the approval of the European Commission.
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§ Mr. SwireTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what steps she is taking to ensure that the bid process for the third licence term to operate the National Lottery(a) avoids the controversies of the last bid process and (b) attracts more than one serious bid; [109616]
(2) what plans she has to nationalise the National Lottery; and whether she is examining alternative ways of operating the National Lottery. [109614]
§ Mr. CabornThe Government published a consultation document last year, which sought views on a number of options for changes to the statutory framework for the licensing of the National Lottery. The options included making the National Lottery Commission responsible for running the Lottery, rather than licensing a company to do so; and also included changes intended to secure more competition to run the Lottery, or for more companies to participate in it. We aim to announce conclusions shortly.