Sugal and Damani Group Enters the UK National Lottery Race

Indian lottery operator Sugal & Damani Group have also entered the race in a bid to become the operator for the UK National Lottery. This will not be the first time they are participating the process. More than a decade ago in 2007, they were declared as the as a reserved bidder for running the UK lottery.

The UK national lottery is considered as one of the heavyweight lotteries in the world and currently ranks as the sixth largest. At present, the lottery is being operated by Camelot.

Kamlesh Vijay, Group CEO of Sugal & Damani had the following to say “As a leader in operating lotteries across India and other jurisdictions, Sugal & Damani has shown its deep interest to operate the UK National Lottery since 2007 when it participated and also got selected as a reserve bidder by qualifying all Required Standards like propriety, technology, player protection, channel management, financial capability, etc,”

“We are looking for a fair and open competition that UKGC has initiated, we are very much in the game, we are in the final stages of creating a strong consortium of credible partners, the details of which will be shared in due course,” Vijay continued.

“As far as the UK lottery market is concerned, it is a large one and highly reputed. There are a huge local following and brand reputation for the UK National lottery, but there are challenges in the market too because people are looking for new excitement and there is stiff competition from other gambling products. We believe that people have a soft corner due to the fact that lotteries contribute more towards well defined good causes, so that attitude is a big plus point. However, continued innovation is very much required in a responsible way to consolidate on this soft corner. Being an organization with deep-rooted innovation in every sphere of our activity we are happy to be in the competition,” Vijay concluded.

New Contenders to the UK Lottery Throne

A deadline for 2nd of October was set for interested parties to throw their name into tender process. So far only two groups have publicly announced their intentions to operate the UK national lottery – Sazka Group and Sugal & Damani.

Sazka Group has its roots in the Czech Republic and earlier this month revealed its intentions of hiring a full fledged team in the UK. They are coming out all guns blazing in a bid to topple Camelot who is all but guaranteed to also be in the running.

As per the new tender, the winning bidder will be awarded a ten-year fixed term and will also be given more flexibility in how to maximises returns for good causes.

The selection process will run for a year with the winning bid being announced in September 2021.