India's largest lottery firm expressed an interest in running Britain's National Lottery.

Sugal & Damani joins current operator Camelot and the Australian firm Tattersall's in entering the race for the licence, which begins in 2009, said a BBC report.

The privately-owned group has run lotteries in India for over 30 years and also has interests in finance, diamond jewellery and tourism.

Bids for the 10-year UK licence must be in by December.

The winner will be announced in the spring.

Chairman of the group, Sugalchand Jain said the firm was in the process of finalising its bid.

A National Lottery Commission spokeswoman confirmed there had been an expression of interest from the Indian group.

She said: 'We welcome Sugal and Damani's interest in the competition for the next licence.

'The commission has worked hard to create a level playing field for the competition and the interest from around the world shows we have achieved this.'

The National Lottery has raised £18.5 billion for good causes and paid out £26 billion in prize money since it began in November 1994.