On 22 August 2012, the High Court rejected Camelot’s challenge to the Gambling Commission’s decision to licence the Health Lottery under the Gambling Act 2005.
‘The Health Lottery’ consists of 51 separate community interests companies (CICs) which have outsourced the management of their lotteries to The Health Lottery ELM Limited (THL). In September 2010 the Gambling Commission granted lottery operating licences to THL and to the CICs and a year later the Health Lottery launched.
Camelot (operator of the National Lottery) claimed that the Health Lottery breached the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005 and that the Gambling Commission had therefore acted unlawfully in licensing the CICs and THL (and by refusing to conduct a licensing review to revoke the licences). Camelot had two primary contentions. First, that the CICs had been established for a commercial purpose, contrary to section 19 of the Act, since they had been set up with a view to THL making a profit from running the Health Lottery. Second, the Health Lottery is a single lottery (as opposed to 51 distinct lotteries) and therefore breaches the restrictions on society lotteries in section 99 of the Act. Moreover, Camelot submitted that its claim was not out of time, despite being brought over a year after the initial licences had been granted.
The High Court rejected each of Camelot’s submissions: (1) the CICs are non-commercial societies and the Gambling Act permits external lottery managers such as THL to make a profit; (2) the Health Lottery is not a single lottery but rather 51 separate society lotteries; and (3) Camelot’s claim was not brought promptly and there was no justification for the lengthy delay before bringing a claim. Accordingly, Camelot was refused permission to bring its application for judicial review on the basis that it was both out of time and had no real prospect of success.
Thomas Sharpe QC of One Essex Court acted for the Health Lottery and Susanna FitzGerald QC and Alexander Brown of One Essex Court acted for the CICs.