Camelot loses lottery bid

The Gambling Commission has welcomed the court's decision on Camelot's application for a judicial review. A statement on its website said:

Founder of the Health Lottery, Richard Desmond, has said that he is; "absolutely delighted, absolutely vindicated in all this nonsense that Camelot been talking about - the Health Lottery is legal."

Camelot has lost a High Court action in which it accused a lotteries watchdog of failing in its legal duty to protect it from the "rival" Health Lottery.

In a written ruling, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, who heard the case with Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, announced he would "refuse Camelot permission to proceed with its claim for judicial review, on the grounds of its delay and its failure to establish a claim with a real prospect of success".

He continued: "I would refuse it permission to amend its claim on the ground that its amended claim has no real prospect of success."

He said he agreed with the Commission "that the question whether multiple society lotteries should be permitted is a political question, to be determined by the Government or Parliament".

Camelot have said it was "disappointed" by the High Court judgement and will lodge an appeal.

Dianne Thompson, Camelot Group CEO, said: "It is now imperative that the Government acts to close this loophole and to ensure that the law mirrors the intention and will of Parliament that there should be only one National Lottery.

"Time is of the essence – the longer the period of political inaction, the more incentive there is for other commercial operators to establish similar mass-market lotteries that would effectively cannibalise National Lottery sales and returns to the Good Causes.

"We are therefore calling on the Government to set out immediately the process and the timetable it intends to pursue in order to discharge its ultimate responsibility for The National Lottery and the Good Causes it supports."

Camelot, the operators of the National Lottery have lost a High Court action in which it accused a lotteries watchdog of failing in its legal duty to protect it from Richard Desmond's controversial "rival" Health Lottery.

At a hearing in July, James Goudie QC, appearing for the Gambling Commission, said Camelot's legal challenge was fatally flawed by delays in seeking judicial review - and a "disguised" attempt to interfere with the Commission's exercise of its discretion.

But Lord Pannick QC, representing Camelot, said the Gambling Commission had expressed concerns about the legality of The Health Lottery. He said the only reasonable and lawful response was a statutory review with sufficient scope to determine whether the scheme complied with the 2005 Gambling Act.

The case is about whether the license of the Health Lottery should be revoked:

• Camelot claims the Health Lottery is effectively a rival to the National Lottery
• They argue that goes against the National Lottery Act which allows for just one national draw
• It could allow other operators to set up as rivals which could affect the amount of money Camelot raises

• But the Health Lottery says it only represents 51 separate local organisations

The High Court is due to decide today if there should be a judicial review into the Health Lottery. Camelot, which runs the National Lottery, claims only one UK-wide draw is allowed by law.