The National Lottery Commission
Before the UK National Lottery had its first draw a regulator was appointed to ensure that the lottery was run correctly, players were protected and to ensure that the maximum amount of money was raised for Good Causes.
The Office of the National Lottery (OFLOT) was established on 25 October 1993 and was the first regulator of the National Lottery.
OFLOT were involved in the selection of the first lottery operator -
Camelot Group PLC,
On 1 April 1999 OFLOT were replaced by The National Lottery Commission
who are the current regulators of the National Lottery.
On 25 May 1994 Camelot was awarded the first lottery licence to run from
1994 for 7 years.
The first National Lottery Draw took place on 19 November 1994
On 19 December 2000 Camelot was awarded the second lottery licence to run from 2002 for 7 years.
An interim licence was run from 26 October 2001 until the start of the second licence on 27 January 2002.
On 31 August 2007 Camelot was awarded the third lottery licence to run from
1 February 2009 for 10 years.
The current regulator of the National Lottery is The National Lottery Commission (NLC). for more information visit their website at:
natlotcomm.gov.uk
The following article about OFLOT is from www.tiscali.co.uk
The Office of the National Lottery. It was established in 1993 by the then Secretary of State for National Heritage, Peter Brooke.
Its first task was to issue a licence to the National Lottery operator and thereafter to monitor its performance.
In May 1994, a seven-year licence was issued to the Camelot Group, a consortium that included Cadbury-Schweppes, Racal Electronics, the bank
note printers De La Rue, ICL, and an experienced US lottery group, G-Tech.
The licence was renewed for a further seven years in December 2000.
On 22 October 1993 Peter Davies, a deputy chairman of Abbey National plc,
was appointed as its director-general.
The high-profile entrepreneur Richard Branson, who had earlier offered to operate a non-profit making lottery, won a libel case in February 1998 against
a director of Camelot who, he said, had tried to bribe him to drop his lottery
bid, and on the following day the Oflot director-general, who had been under considerable pressure to do so, resigned.
The renewal of the license was marked by months of controversy, as first the National Lottery Commission could not decide between Richard Branson's bid and Camelot's bid for the licence, then found in favour of Branson, then after a legal challenge by Camelot, examined both bids again, and finally awarded the licence to Camelot.
