Duncan to run lottery for Camelot

Andy Duncan, the former head of Channel 4, is set to run The National Lottery in the UK, leaving his role as chief executive of luxury car dealership HR Owen after just a year.

Camelot made the surprise announcement yesterday that Mr Duncan would join Camelot UK Lotteries, the licensed operator of Britain's National Lottery, as managing director.

He will take on the newly created role at the end of next month, reporting to group chief executive Dianne Thompson, in control of "all of Camelot's operations for the National Lottery" in the UK.

Mr Duncan will be responsible for more than 700 staff across all of the company's major departments in the UK, including marketing, sales, insight and IT.

Ms Thompson said: "He is an instinctive marketer with undoubted flair and a proven track record in growing brands and running businesses."

This will allow Ms Thompson to oversee diversifying the business.

She added that with Mr Duncan's experience in digital markets the National Lottery would "continue to deliver responsible and sustainable growth".

Mr Duncan, who worked in marketing at Unilever for 17 years, called it "an incredible prospect".

Camelot has the licence to run the lottery until 2019 and has applied for an extension.

HR Owen, which traces its roots back nearly 80 years, has moved quickly to appoint a new chief executive. It announced yesterday that Joe Doyle, most recently regional managing director of HPI, a company that checks the history of used cars, would take the role.

One insider said Mr Duncan had done a "very good job, and was instrumental in setting up the growth strategy" at the company.

"The board is confident Joe will carry that on", the source said.