Another Sell Off - The National Lottery

[John]

Under this Government, not only did they make this Country 'Open House'.

They removed themselves from the effort of objecting to the sell off of British Businesses.

What a shambles.

[Papaumau]

Let's look at this a bit closer shall we ?

Camelot, ( the private company who own the franchise for The National Lottery ), are in the process of being sold to a Canadian teachers pension fund.

The government ARE looking at this proposed move using the National Lottery Commission to see if this sale will be of benefit to the British people.

See this report from the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8588321.stm

I guess that until this review is finalised we are just going to have to "watch this space". 

[John]

Yes lets look at this even closer:

Camelot is foreign majority owned. Businesses in the US, Japan and France make up that majority.

The only reason that this Labour government is looking at this, whatever they
may publicly state is that they are the main beneficiary of lottery money.

There is also an opportunity to make an excuse up to withdraw its licence (Labour
money makers are Tax Licences).

They will then be able to make more money selling that licence again.

The BBC is a government organ - they will continue with the smoke and mirrors...

[Papaumau]

AGAIN with the Labour hate campaign !

Just because it is a New-Labour administration that runs the country at the moment does not mean that the buying and selling of franchises is in fact a LABOUR pastime.

The idea of a PRIVATE company running the NATIONAL lottery would be happily accepted by any Tory government and I am sure that if the Tories get back in in May they will not generate a state-owned and run lottery.

Maybe it WOULD be a good idea to start up a true "people's" lottery by allowing the government to run it so that ALL of the money raised that does not go for good causes could go straight back into the treasury along with the gambling tax that is generated. I am sure that a national lottery does not need to have private shareholders that skim off the profits generated by the nation's need to gamble. ( Many national lotteries around the world  are owned by the taxpayers of these countries ).

At the moment Camelot is comprised of a consortium of British and foreign companies that all take their pound of flesh out of the pockets of the British punters. They are: Cadbury Schweppes, De La Rue, Racal Electronics and ICL

[John]

There never has been a State Owned Lottery. State Controlled via Licence - Yes

Labour could have changed this if they wished. But it takes competence.

It would also expose the amount of cash they rack off. Like Football Pool Tax at 42%

Labour Hate Campaign? How Labour have pulled the wool over the brains of the Scottish.

They are incompetent, the more taxes they invent and collect, the more they waste.

This is not hate. I suppose you will be looking at a definition of hate to aver that statement.
Not stopping until you find the slightest word that may match.

Brown and his Clowns may have sucked up to Scotland. But in England they have
never stopped to considered the population once. They treat them as Taxation Cows.

Even the Pensioners are ripped off.

[Papaumau]

John said:

There never has been a State Owned Lottery. State Controlled via Licence - Yes
Labour could have changed this if they wished. But it takes competence

And yes, while it is true that the national lottery in Britain has never actually been  "peoples" lottery, ( even although there are many of them around the world ) and the New-Labourites COULD HAVE made it into one if they has so wished, this just goes to show - as Ivanhoe says and I agree about - that New-Labour is now as right wing as The Tories are. Maybe THAT is the reason why they did not take the franchise away from Camelot when they could have.

Just because a lottery is run by "The State" does not mean that it is run by the civil service; it could quite easily be run by professional managers that know how to do it WITHOUT any of the income taken going to shareholders.

These "not-for-profit" trusts - as they are called - are going to become the new way to nationalise companies without these companies becoming bogged down by civil service bureaucracy.