Camelot in bid for Illinois Lottery contract
UK lottery operator "highly likely" to enter bid process after Illinois Lottery dumped private manager Northstar last week
Camelot Global, the sister compnay of UK lottery operator Camelot UK, will throw its hat into the ring for the contract to operate the Illinois Lottery after the US state dumped private manager Northstar last week, eGaming Review understands.
The Illinois Lottery issued a request for information (RFI) on Friday after finally reaching an agreement to part ways with Northstar, a joint venture between Scientific Games and GTECH, seven years into a 10-year contract over missed revenue targets.
In its RFI, the Illinois Lottery said its new manager would be poised to take advantage of its “massively underutilised” online platform, which launched in 2012 but had so far failed to generate significant revenues.
Sources close to Camelot said it was “highly likely” the operator would respond to the request for information and submit a proposal as soon as the lottery issued an RFP.
A spokesperson for Camelot Global said the firm “supports” the Illinois Lottery’s decision to “pursue an open, transparent process” in its search for a new private manager.
“Camelot Global believes that private management, if structured appropriately, has proven an effective way to manage lotteries,” the spokesperson added.
It would be the second time Camelot had applied to operate the Illinois Lottery, after losing out to Northstar back in 2010.
Camelot went so far as to file a formal protest against the Illinois Department of Revenue’s decision to award the contract to Northstar over claims it had not been a competitive bidding process.
The US has proven to be a difficult market for Camelot, which was awarded the contract to operate the Pennsylvania Lottery in 2012 only for it to be withdraw after the state attorney general later rejected the deal.