Justin King, the former boss of Sainsbury’s, has shared that the Czech company that is competing to get the licence for the National Lottery could be the best one to run it, as it has great chances to revive the suffering high-street gambling industry in the UK.
Sazka Group was established in 2012 and currently operates lotteries in the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Greece.
Mr King, who left Sainsbury’s seven years ago, has been appointed by Sazka Group as one of the advisors to help it on the way to winning the operating licence for the UK National Lottery. He is advising the group, along with Sir Keith Mills, deputy chairman of the London 2012 Olympics and the founder of lastminute.com, Brent Hoberman.
In the weekend, King told The Mail that Sazka Group intends to adopt its knowledge of technology to the already existing online offering of the lottery in a move that could make independent stores’ services more attractive to local players. He further noted that one of the trends that is not considered very good is that the lottery’s growth has been generated mainly by fewer players much more often.
According to the former Sainsbury’s boss, the lottery had been considered as one of the most important aspects of the independent corner shop sector and it could become the reason for regular visits of these shops that had been lost to other gambling services.
UKGC Expected to Decide on National Lottery’s Licence by the End on 2021
Later in 2021, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is set to decide whether to give the National Lottery’s operating licence to its current holder Camelot or to one of the few companies that decided to enter the competition.
According to reports, the companies that are set to participate in the bidding process are looking at technology that uses locally targeted marketing to inform its customers of lottery ticket sellers situated nearby.
Mr King said he would not have been advising the Czech Republic-based gambling company if he did not think it had real chances to get the operating licence for the National Lottery. He said Sazka Group had an “incredibly strong case to make” when applying for the National Lottery’s licence, especially considering the expectations that the UKGC would prefer a candidate seeking to change many things. According to Mr King, the history of the lottery, Sazka Group has extremely good chances to become the next organisation to be given the opportunity to run the lottery.
In January, the founder of Apollo Global Management, Leon Black, revealed that he is to step back from the private equity fund after a review unveiled his links of the late Jeffrey Epstein. An investment worth €500 million was made by Apollo in Sazka Group late in 2020.
- Author
Daniel Williams
