National Lottery sold to Ontario Teachers
Saturday March 27th 2010The sell off of the current National Lottery operators has been hitting the headlines for many months and we can reveal that the National Lottery sold to Ontario Teachers in a deal said to be worth just under £400 million. The announcement came on Thursday evening but the deal has yet to be looked at by the regulator National Lottery Commission, to establish many factors including whether this sale will serve the national interest as it has with the current operator since the National Lottery began in 1994.
The company proposing to take over the National Lottery is called Ontario Teachers’ Pension plan, more widely known simply as Teachers and already has a range of UK investments on its portfolio. However this is likely to be irrelevant to the National Lottery Commission when they consider whether the proposed takeover is appropriate. The main areas which the National Lottery Commission will be looking at is whether the commitments to players and the good causes remain as high priority and of course whether the company itself is equipped to run the National Lottery.
Many people will be wonder how the sell off will affect them, and whether they will be able to buy lottery tickets and play the game in the same way. This is something that will only become evident once the takeover is approved and Teachers reveal their plans for the game. However, the rest of the sell off process is likely to be lengthy and not something National Lottery players will need to be concerned about for some time.