Camelot Group has been granted a six-month extension to operate the UK National Lottery.

The UK Gambling Commission has said the process is delayed by three months and is likely to extend the licence by six months, Camelot has run the National Lottery since its inception in 1995. Its licence, issued by the Gambling Commission.

Despite posting record results, Camelot has been hit hard by coronavirus. With lockdown in force, sales across a network of 20,000 independent retailers collapsed.

Trying to run a competition in a global pandemic is not easy.” Such an extension is likely to rile rival suitors understood to be angered by authorities putting a two-month delay into the process earlier this year.