National Lottery operator Camelot could change hands after major shareholders in the firm said they were considering selling their stakes. Banknote printing group De La Rue and Japanese IT firm Fujitsu are looking at a possible sale of their 20% holdings in Watford-based Camelot, which has run the Lottery since it began in 1994.

Britain National Lottery operator Camelot is lobbying the Treasury to change the way it is taxed, claiming this would boost prizes and increase contributions to good causes and the London Olympics. Camelot, which last month was awarded the next ten-year Lottery licence beginning in 2009, is urging the government to scrap the current tax of USD 0.24 on every USD 2 ticket. Instead, it is asking to be taxed in the same way as bookmakers, with a tax on gross profits. It wants the rate set at 24%.

The decision to name Camelot as winner of the competition to operate the National Lottery for a third consecutive term could be heading for a challenge in the high court after Sugal & Damani, the sole rival bidder, said it was considering seeking a judicial review. The Delhi-based conglomerate, with interests in jewellery, hotels and stockbroking as well as lotteries, attacked the decision this month by the National Lottery Commission to select Camelot as preferred bidder for the 10-year monopoly licence, starting in 2009.

Camelot has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the latest licence to run the UK‘s National Lottery. The licence, the third in the lottery’s history, will come into effect in February 2009 and last for 10 years. Camelot has run the National Lottery since its launch in 1994 and said it expected to conclude talks with the National Lottery Commission this month. Camelot had been facing competition from Indian company Sugal & Damani, which wanted to take over the lottery.

At just before 10am tomorrow, two phone calls will be made from the offices of the National Lottery Commission in Mayfair. There is little danger they’ll go unanswered. At the other end, awaiting news of their fate, will be executives from Camelot, which has run the Lottery since its inception in 1994, and Sugal & Damani, a little-known New Delhi-based firm now vying to win the right to run Britain’s biggest-selling gaming product.