Camelot win $2.2bn Illinois lottery contract

Camelot Group, a UK-based lottery operator, has signed a 10-year deal worth a substantial $2.2bn to manage the US State of Illinois lottery.

The group's Illinois subsidiary will take over the account from Northstar. Camelot is used to operating large lotteries with a proven track record of delivering huge amounts of money for charitable causes and state revenue. Camelot currently gives over £30m a week to charities in the UK from their operation of the National Lottery.

Acting lottery director Greg Smith said in a statement: “Camelot has shown more than a decade of success in managing lotteries throughout the world. The Lottery and Camelot Illinois have common goals to responsibly grow the lottery’s player base, align incentives, eliminate conflicts of interest, introduce new technology and innovation, and ensure responsiveness to public needs and concerns.”

Camelot CEO Nigel Railton, during a public hearing in Chicago said: “We have an ambitious plan but the plan’s also proven.”

The current operator Northstar will be handing over the contract after being fired in 2015 for missing sales goals. They continued to operate the lottery on a temporary basis up to 1 January 2017 with that period extended due to the state's inability to find a new suitable contract.

Lottery officials explained that the new contract was built on “a revised structure that aligns financial incentives and includes new permanent point-of-sale at retailers, new games, and a next-generation iLottery platform that supports omni-channel lottery participation.”