Clause 6 - Licensing structure
National Lottery Bill
4:00 pm
Hugo Swire (Shadow Minister (the Arts), The Family & Culture, Media & Sport; East Devon, Conservative)
I was coming to the end of my remarks, Mr. Gale, and do not seek to detain anyone. My concluding remark impacts on this issue; it is about what I said this morning about the slightly less optimistic sales of lottery tickets. I was corrected on that by the hon. Member for Bath and the Minister.
However, when Camelot was granted the licence in 2000, it said that it would raise up to £15 billion for good causes. Five years into the seven-year licence, it has delivered only £7 billion, so is expected to fall almost £5 billion short by the end of its contract in 2008. That is the salutary lesson; before we all pat ourselves on the back and talk about the tremendous success of Camelot and the last round of bidding, the facts need to be examined more closely. That is why the schedule and licensing structure need to be considered again carefully; to encourage, on a level playing field, as many potential bidders as possible.