The National Lottery funds over 625,000 amazing projects throughout the UK. In fact, the vast majority of popular lottery games in the United Kingdom are under the control of The National Lottery, which is run by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited and fully licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. While the minimum age to gamble in the United Kingdom is 18, this law doesn’t apply to lotteries. National Lottery changes: Lucky number 59? New balls introduced in major draw overhaul that will 'guarantee more millionaires' Lotto overhaul - the biggest in its 21-year history - increases pool.

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Last Updated: Tuesday 12th June 2018, 11:20

You may have heard of Camelot, the company that owns the license to operate the UK National Lottery, but is it true that it is owned by a pension fund from Canada?

In short, yes, although this is not a recent development. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan acquired Camelot over eight years ago in news that would have escaped the attention of many people. Since then the lottery has been rebranded, seen several television shows come and go and introduced a number of supplementary draws.

So what happened when Camelot was sold and where does the money go now?

A Brief History of the National Lottery

The UK National Lottery was first set up under the government of John Major in 1993. A number of British companies, including Cadbury Schweppes and Royal Mail, plus the Florida-based software company GTECH Corporation, formed a consortium to acquire the rights to operate the lottery.

The consortium was named the Camelot Group, and it has held the license to operate the UK National Lottery since then.

Several of the major British companies that held stakes in Camelot have since ceased to operate. International Computers Limited (ICL) was incorporated into its parent brand, Fujitsu, in 2001, after 33 years in operation. Fujitsu retained ICL’s share of the Camelot Group. British electronics firm Racal, which held a 22.5% share in Camelot in 1994, was purchased by the French multinational Thales Group in 2000 (operating then as Thomson-CSF). Thales also acquired Racal’s share of Camelot.

Camelot’s National Lottery license was renewed for the third time in 2009, running for ten years with the option to extend it by a further five years. In 2010, the company was bought by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan from Canada for a reported £389 million, beating a rival bid from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

Who Are Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan?

Established in 1990, Ontario Teachers’ provide pensions for over 300,000 working and retired teachers in Canada. Based in Toronto, the company employs 1,100 people and is also one of the largest institutional investors in the country, with over $189.5 billion in net assets.

The company is also a major investor in overseas businesses and has offices located in London and Hong Kong. It holds shares in major British companies in addition to Camelot, including Birmingham International Airport and Scotia Gas Networks (SGN), a provider of natural and green gas to nearly six million homes across Scotland and the south of England.

Ontario Teachers' publicised the agreement to buy Camelot in March 2010, acquiring the shares from all five shareholders. At the time of the acquisition, Wayne Kozun, Ontario Teachers’ Senior Vice President of Public Equities, said: “We look forward to partnering with management to realize the full potential of the Camelot business over the remaining licence term and into the future.” Lee Sienna, Vice President of Long Term Equities, added: “Camelot is an excellent example of a first class business with long term potential and we look forward to making further investments to grow the company.'

Does All the Money Go to Ontario Teachers’ As Profit?

The National Lottery is a UK state-owned franchise and as such it is closely regulated by the Gambling Commission, a governmental body responsible for supervising gaming law, licensing the National Lottery and protecting its players. For complete transparency, Camelot regularly provides updates on its financial performance, information that is made available to the public through its website.

Ninety-five percent of the revenue from lottery ticket sales is given back to winners and communities around the UK through the National Lottery’s Good Causes fund. Lottery funding is overseen by the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which has elected 12 bodies to distribute the money from the Good Causes fund. These include Arts Council England, the British Film Institute (BFI), the Big Lottery Fund and UK Sport. The awarding of funding is made independently of any government department, although there are guidelines in place that the funding bodies must adhere to.

Of the remaining 5% ticket revenue, 4% is split between government duty, operating costs and retailer commission, and 1% goes to Camelot as profit. The company recently announced that ticket sales for the year ending March 2018 were £6.95 billion, an increase of £26.4 million on the previous year. £1.65 billion of this went to Good Causes, £27.3 million more than last year, taking the total raised by the National Lottery Good Causes to £37 billion since 1994.

These numbers are subject to a final audit, after which a full financial report for the year ending March 2018 is expected to be published.

Lottery Players Contribute Directly to Good Causes

A percentage of the money from every single line of National Lottery numbers and every scratchcard goes towards helping Good Causes around the country, from supporting grassroots sports teams to funding larger non-profit organisations such as Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Over 525,000 projects have benefitted from lottery funding to date, and you can find out which projects near you have received some form of support on the National Lottery’s Good Causes page.

The National Lottery Results (previously The National Lottery Live, The National Lottery Draw and The National Lottery Draws) is the television programme that broadcasts the drawing of the National Lottery in the United Kingdom. The programme launched on 19 November 1994 on BBC One, and was initially broadcast live on Saturday nights, before expanding to Wednesday nights in 1997 and Friday nights in 2008. From January 2013 to December 2016, the program aired only on Saturday nights. Since January 2017, the live draws are no longer broadcast on television and are available to watch online at the National Lottery website and YouTube.

Since April 2018, a new show called The National Lottery Lotto Results has aired on ITV on Wednesday and Saturday nights during commercial breaks. Presented by Stephen Mulhern, the show features that night's winning Lotto numbers, and spotlights a National Lottery-funded location. The actual Lotto draw itself is not broadcast, and remains online.^[2]

Presenters[edit]

The first show was presented by Noel Edmonds. After the first show, it was co-presented by Anthea Turner and Gordon Kennedy, later replaced by Bob Monkhouse, all of them assisted by the psychic Mystic Meg and numbers expert Sam Weren.^[3]Carol Vorderman had a segment during the early years of the show whereby, she would use mathematical techniques to predict the winning numbers. When Gordon left, Anthea remained as solo host and was followed by a number of presenters over the years.

Commentary on the draws has, since 1995, been provided by Alan Dedicoat, who earned the nickname The Voice of the Balls. During the live show era, in the event of Dedicoat being unavailable, commentary was provided by fellow BBC Radio 2 announcer Charles Nove.

Presenters[edit]

• Gaby Roslin (2014–16)
• Kate Garraway (2014–16)
• Ore Oduba (2015–16)
• Sonali Shah (2015–16)
• Anthea Turner (1994–1996)
• Gordon Kennedy (1994–95)
• Bob Monkhouse (1996-98?)
• Noel Edmonds (First show, 1994)
• Terry Wogan (1998)
• Jenni Falconer (2007–2015)
• OJ Borg (2010–2013)
• Duncan James (2006–2008)
• Kirsty Gallacher (2007–2009)
• Gethin Jones (2008–2010)
• Christopher Biggins (2009)
• Myleene Klass (2006–2008, 2010–2013)
• Scott Mills (2008–2013)
• Christine Bleakley (2009)
• Matt Johnson (2013)
• Chris Evans (2013)

Draw masters

• Paul Van Den Bosch
• Matthew Chamberlain
• Jeff Brewin
• Julie Hamilton
• John Willen
• Martin McClure
• Mick Lawes
• Paul Cartwright
• Louise Walters

Stand-in presenters[edit]

• Michael Ball (2007)
• Jenny Powell (2010)
• Bradley Walsh (2007)
• Tim Vincent (2007)
• Tim Lovejoy (2009)
• Lisa Snowdon (2011)

Current shows[edit]

Saturday night draws[edit]

The Saturday night draws were usually presented as part of a game show that is shown to be associated with the lottery branding. The game shows were previously broadcast live, with the game show host also presenting the lottery draws, though since 2002, there would also be a draw presenter that would tell the viewers about how to play the draws and what the Lotto jackpot is, etc. Since late 2006, the game shows were pre-recorded, with the live lottery draws included as a separate segment with a different presenter. The draws on Saturday night consisted of 'Thunderball' followed by 'Lotto' a few minutes later, though in the past 'Lotto Extra' and its replacement 'Dream Number' would also be shown too; both now retired draws. Since 2014, 'Lotto Raffle' is no longer featured during the draws. These gameshows usually aired at about 8.00pm, meaning the draw was a lot earlier than when there is no gameshows, when the draw was around 10.00pm. A new gameshow has been released every year, except 2010, 2012, and 2016.

Gaby Roslin hosted the final live draw on 31 December 2016, with Alan Dedicoat joining her in vision to close the show. From 7 January 2017, with the move to the BBC iPlayer, the programme featured no presenter with Dedicoat continuing to announce the draws using pre-recorded commentary.

Lottery update[edit]

On BBC One on Saturday nights straight after the BBC Weekend News (previously Match of the Day), a segment known as Lottery update is broadcast showing the results of the day's Lotto and Thunderball draws and also how many winners there are. The same thing is also broadcast on BBC One on Tuesday nights after the local news opt-out showing the results of the Tuesday EuroMillions draw and UK millionaire raffle.

National Lottery Stars[edit]

National Lottery Stars are held each year and aired on BBC One. Until 2015, the ceremony's name was The National Lottery Awards. It is currently presented by Ore Oduba.

Presenters[edit]

• John Barrowman (2010, 12–16)
• Myleene Klass (2011)
• Ore Oduba (2017—present)

Former shows[edit]

Wednesday night draws[edit]

A new midweek National Lottery Draw was introduced and aired on BBC1 from 5 February 1997 to 26 December 2012. From 2 January 2013, the Wednesday draws are available to watch exclusively on the National Lottery's website.

Wednesday night presenters

• Bradley Walsh (2007-2008)
• Michael Ball (2006–2007, 2009)
• Jenni Falconer (2006–2008, 2010–2012)
• Duncan James (2007–2008)
• Scott Mills (2007–2012)
• Kirsty Gallacher (2007)
• Tim Vincent (2008)
• Gethin Jones (2008–2010)
• Myleene Klass (2008–2012)
• Jamelia (2008–2009)
• Jodie Prenger (2009–2011)
• OJ Borg (2009–2012)
• Debra Stephenson (2010)
• Melinda Messenger (2010)

Friday night draws[edit]

The Friday night draws showed the EuroMillions results and the Thunderball draw and are usually broadcast at 23:15. The Friday night draws were the only draws not to be broadcast live. From January 2013, the Friday draws are available to watch exclusively on the National Lottery's website. There is still a results update on BBC One at 22:35.

Friday night presenters

• Tim Vincent (2008–2009)
• Myleene Klass (2010–2011)
• OJ Borg (2010–2012)
• Debra Stephenson (2010)
• Gethin Jones (2010)
• Jenni Falconer (2011)
• Scott Mills (2012)
• Matt Johnson (2012)

Saturday night game shows[edit]

Between 1998 and when the televised draws were decommissioned in 2017, eighteen National Lottery game shows have aired. Who Dares Wins, hosted by Nick Knowles, continues to air to this day, but without the National Lottery branding.

The National Lottery Uk Scam

Studios[edit]

The National Lottery draws were originally filmed at BBC Television Centre in London. From 2006 to 2012, it was filmed at Arqiva Chalfont Grove studios in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire in a set known as Lottery HQ.^[4][5] From January 2013, it has been filmed from Pinewood Studios.^[6] The EuroMillions draw takes place in a dedicated studio in Paris, France.^[7] The draw is occasionally shown at other locations for special events such as The National Lottery Awards ceremony.^[8][9]

Broadcasting[edit]

Until 2017, the programme was usually broadcast on BBC One, although it was occasionally shown on BBC Two if BBC One was unable to show it. The BBC were granted the rights in 1994 after defeating a rival bid from ITV. The programme was also broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (or Radio 1 FM as it was then known) and later, it was broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Incidents[edit]

• On 30 November 1996, live on air, the draw machine failed to start, causing the draw to be delayed by 50 minutes; Bob Monkhouse, the host that night, said that Mystic Meg had been predicting it all day.
• On 17 February 2001, during the Thunderball draw, the column that lifts the balls up in the first draw machine initially failed to lift a ball for the second number, with the column eventually lifting without a ball and then not lowering for some time for it to retry lifting a second ball. It later repeated this for the fifth ball.
• On 20 May 2006, during the draw on the National Lottery game show Jet Set, several members of the group Fathers 4 Justice protested on the set, causing the show to be taken off air for several minutes while the protesters were removed from the studio. The Lotto and Lotto Extra draws then took place quickly and finished on time for the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 on BBC One, as missing the start of the contest would be a breach of rules.
• On 7 November 2015, the Lotto draw machine failed to release all the balls, causing the draw to be postponed. The draw later took place off air, and the results were posted on the website.

References[edit]

The National Lottery Uk Winning Numbers

1. ^'Princess wins Lottery deal from Endemol'. Broadcast. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
2. ^'National Lottery results will air on ITV for first time'. Digital Spy. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
3. ^'The National Lottery Live with Sam Weren'. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
4. ^Oatts, Joanne (22 September 2006). 'Lottery gets its own studio as birthday present'. Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
5. ^'TV Studio For National lottery'. UK National Lottery. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
6. ^'Pinewood to host new look National Lottery show on BBC One'. The Knowledge. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
7. ^Gagnant, Tirage. 'ᐅ • Euromillions : arnaque ou pas ? Découvrez les coulisses d'un tirage'. Tirage-Gagnant.com ᐅ • Portail Jeux de hasard et de loterie (in French). Retrieved 10 June 2020.
8. ^'BBC - The National Lottery Awards: Celebrating 25 Years - Media Centre'. BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
9. ^'Events at Television Centre'. BBC Studioworks. Retrieved 10 June 2020. For two consecutive years (2018 and 2019), we have hosted The National Lottery Awards...

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External links[edit]

• The National Lottery Draws at BBC Programmes

The National Lottery Draw