We propose to negotiate with The People's Lottery and hope that we can reach a satisfactory solution within the deadline we have set of one month from today. Camelot was furious at being excluded from further talks. Today's leave to appeal is Camelot's best chance of winning the next contract, which runs from October 2001 and safeguarding the jobs of its 800 staff. Over the weekend the Commission agreed to put talks with The People's Lottery on hold - but having won the right to judicial review, Camelot is now seeking to prevent ANY further negotiations between the two until the judicial review is has taken place. The longer the legal wrangles take, the more difficult it will be for a new operator to be up and running on time.
Questions remain about the software partners of each contender.
Camelot was originally ruled out mainly because it's partner, GTech, covered up a computer failure which affected payouts. But Branson's chosen software associates, AWI, are no angels either. They've been fined in four States in America for lottery systems plagued by computer failures and delays. So after today's ruling the current operator is still in the running.