LOTTERY bosses may argue until they are blue in the face that running the company successfully is very hard work. We are not convinced.

The Camelot directors have a private monopoly on a popular licensed gambling venture. It would take considerable hard work to make it fail.

It's now raking in an annual profit of £77.5 million and its directors are being paid more than £1.66 million in six-figure salaries and bonuses. While they deserve the credit for setting up the Lottery and ensuring it has run smoothly, the time has come to call a halt to this lucrative gravy train.

The Lottery should be operated by a non-profit-making body with its enormous profits either going to charities or the taxpayer.

Unlike other profitable companies, the Lottery has no competitors and the prediction that it would have a licence to print money appears to have come true quicker than expected.

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