Czech billionaire gambles on Olympic heavyweight for National Lottery bid

Czech billionaire Karel Komarek has hired one of Lord Sebastian Coe’s Olympic lieutenants to spearhead his bid to run the National Lottery.

Sir Keith Mills, former deputy chairman in the London Olympics organising committee, is to be bid chairman for Sazka, Mr Komarek’s operator that runs lotteries in Greece, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Prior to the Olympics, Sir Keith founded Air Miles and Nectar customer loyalty programmes.

The Gambling Commission this week issued official tender documents to bid for the fourth National Lottery licence which will run for 10 years starting in 2023. It will generate hundreds of millions of pounds in profit.

Sazka has been preparing to launch a bid to oust incumbent Camelot for almost a year.

The Czech firm, whose interest was first revealed by the Telegraph, is expected to go head-to-head with Camelot and firms owned by media mogul Richard Desmond. In the last two weeks Indian conglomerate Sugal & Damani has also entered the race.

Sir Keith is not the only sports specialist in Sazka’s team. He is joined by former London 2012 employee Alastair Ruxton as bid director.

Giselle Pettyfer, daughter of sports commentator Barry Davies and former communications director at the International Olympics Committee, have also been hired by Sazka.

Chief executive Robert Chvátal said: “We have consistently increased participation and revenues for the lotteries we operate. We want to bring this deep knowledge and customer insight to revitalise the UK National Lottery increasing sales and money raised for good causes.”