UK National Lottery operator Camelot has been hit with a seven figure fine by the UK Gambling Commission following an eighteen-month investigation into the company’s operational failings. These failings include, but are not limited to, a flaw in their recently launched mobile gambling application, which was found to have falsely informed players that their winning tickets were in fact losers.
Additional failings uncovered in the course of the investigation include Lotto results published incorrectly on the Lottery website, which led to at least five members of the public being unable to collect life-changing wins of up to £1 million. During the glitch, the site displayed a temporary page which failed to reveal the correct winners.
Camelot did later recognise the error and attempt to contact the winners, but not all could be reached; some of the funds were ultimately given to charity instead. Further errors exposed consisted of failings in some security measures.
While the regulator did praise Camelot for engaging positively with the investigation, it still saw fit to issue a seven-figure fine in the end. Camelot has issued several statements in the wake of the news, stating that “We accept the outcome of the Gambling Commission’s investigation… we’ve since proactively carried out an extensive programme of work to strengthen our controls, processes and governance arrangements to ensure they are all fit for purpose – and welcome the Commission’s recognition of the work we’ve carried out to mitigate the risk of future issues.”
It’s worth noting, too, that the UKGC at one point paused the investigation in order to give Camelot an opportunity to implement improvements ahead of time.
The agreed penalty will be paid into the National Lottery good causes charity per an agreement with the Commission.
