(Bloomberg) — The U.K. gambling regulator has awarded a 10-year license to run the national lottery to a Czech operator controlled by billionaire Karel Komarek, who is attempting to cut his company’s links with Russian gas giant Gazprom PJSC.
Allwyn Entertainment Ltd, one of Europe’s biggest lottery operators, won the U.K. license from Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd, which had run it since its inception in 1994, according to a statement Tuesday.
Komarek’s holding company KKCG Group AS also runs Moravske Naftove Doly, which has a gas storage joint venture with Russia’s Gazprom in the Czech Republic’s Moravia region, according to KKCG’s website.
In an open letter published earlier this month, Komarek condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said he’s in discussions with the Czech government about removing Gazprom from the joint venture. He added he’s been supporting Ukrainian refugees and trying to exit a separate joint shareholding with Russia in a gas terminal.
“There are very few options to fully divest from Russian gas in Eastern Europe,” said Komarek. “What we want to do is free ourselves from Russian involvement without putting ordinary Czech citizens at risk, in the middle of winter.”
The U.K. recently added Gazprom’s Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller to its sanctions list of wealthy Russians following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.K.’s Gambling Commission, which awarded the license, said all bidders were found “fit and proper” to run the contract and that no sanctioned entities are involved in funding Allwyn.
Representatives for KKCG and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Allwyn is due to go public in a combination with a blank-check company run by former Trump adviser and Goldman Sachs Inc. executive Gary Cohn.
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