View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Media Business
June 7, 2013

Express owner Desmond could take on lottery after Camelot hints it might step aside

By Press Gazette

Daily Express owner Richard Desmond is mulling a bid to run the National Lottery after it emerged current operator Camelot may not renew its licence.

Desmond has run the Health Lottery since 2011 and has raised £35 million for health-related causes, according to the Daily Express.

If he won the licence, Desmond has pledged to slash ticket prices to £1 and give all profits to charity. In January Camelot raised the price of a ticket to £2.

“I would be very happy to bid to run the National Lottery, which I will make bigger, better and British as well as far more cost-effective,” said Desmond.

“I will raise more money for good causes and put all the profits back to support charities and good causes.

“Unlike Camelot’s well-paid directors and Canadian bosses, I will not take a penny in remuneration. And of course, I will put the ticket price back to a pound.”

The possibility of the Northern & Shell chairman taking over the £6.9 billion lottery emerged as Camelot chief executive told a conference in Israel that that the company might not look to renew its licence when it comes up in 2023.

Content from our partners
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it
Impress: Regulation, arbitration and complaints resolution

Thompson and Camelot failed to get Desmond’s Health Lottery licence revoked during a High Court battle last August.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network