Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of running the National Lottery as a not-for-profit enterprise.

The Gambling Commission is the UK’s independent statutory body responsible for awarding the licence to run the National Lottery. The current National Lottery licence expires in 2023, and the Commission remains on track to appoint an operator to take on the new licence from this date. The competition is expected to commence in the first half of 2020, with the successful applicant being announced in 2021.

The Commission is encouraged by the healthy level of market interest, from a wide range of interested parties, and will welcome as many applications as possible to the competition, including not-for-profit enterprises. I am looking forward to a robust competition that draws in a wide range of applicants to ensure the continued success of our National Lottery for the next 25 years and beyond.