Camelot hit with ?300k fine for risking public confidence
National Lottery operator apologises for incorrect raffle results displayed online last year
UK lottery operator Camelot has been fined ?300,000 for providing inaccurate results on its National Lottery site, an error Great Britain’s Gambling Commission said placed “public confidence at risk”.
An investigation found incorrect Lotto Millionaire Raffle results were displayed on the site for an hour and viewed by more than 100,000 people on 10 October 2015.
The Commission said the firm had breached the terms of its operating licence as its processes and procedures were not fit for purpose and players were misled.
Two similar incidents involving an incorrect jackpot advert published on EuroMillions’ results checker in November 2015 and inaccurate information about the Raffle prize tier in December 2015 were also reported, but escaped any additional sanction due to its low impact.
Daniel Dyball, Camelot’s head of policy and regulatory affairs, apologised for the errors and accepted it had violated its licence conditions.
“We absolutely accept that we made a mistake in each of the cases and are very sorry that they happened,” Dyball told eGaming Review.
“Public confidence in the National Lottery is of paramount importance and we believe our outstanding operational record over the last 22 years underlines how seriously we take our responsibilities to players.
“The incidents, which took place back in 2015 and were caused by human error, were quickly identified and promptly fixed. We also took immediate action to communicate the correct results and to strengthen our internal processes to minimise the chances of these specific issues happening again,” he added.
Camelot added returns to National Lottery Good Causes were not adversely affected by any of the incidents and the company did not benefit financially as a result of the errors.
“It is essential that the public can have confidence in how the National Lottery is run,” Sarah Gardner, Gambling Commission executive director, said.
“Camelot’s failures on this occasion resulted in a significant number of National Lottery players being misled and so put at risk that public confidence.
“When errors occur, it is essential that the interests of players are put first and we will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to take the necessary action to make requirements clear and to deter the likelihood of future incidents,” she added.