Lord Coe Appointed to Sazka Board Amid UK National Lottery Bid

Europe’s largest lottery operator, Sazka, has stepped up its efforts to oust Camelot as the UK lottery’s licence holder by appointing Lord Sebastian Coe to their board. 

Camelot has held the UK lottery licence since the National Lottery was launched in 1994 but with their ten-year licence set to expire in 2023, Sazka hope the appointment of Lord Coe as a non-executive director will bring their thirty-year association with the National Lottery to an end. 

At Sazka, Lord Coe will once again team up with London 2012 chief executive, Sir Keith Mills. The National Lottery were instrumental in helping Coe and Mills oversee a successful Olympic games in 2012, contributing £2.2m towards the cost of building many facilities including the Olympic Stadium. The National Lottery remains the biggest single source of funding for British athletes with Lord Coe stating that he “believes in the Lottery and the big difference it makes to people’s lives across art, sports and heritage.” 

Sazka’s billionaire owner, Karel Komarak, already runs lotteries throughout Europe via private investment firm, KKCG. Komarak operates the lottery in his native Czech Republic as well as Italy, Austria, Greece and Cyprus. 

Speaking to the Financial Times about the latest appointment, Mr Komarak stated that Lord Coe “brings tremendous additional strength to our international perspective as we strive to maximise the raising of funds for good causes in all of the markets we serve.” 

The UK Government are set to make a decision on the National Lottery’s ten-year licence in February 2022. 

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