stormin The airline is only one part of the Virgin Group and has nothing to do with the Group's former interest in running the Lottery. When they did Tender for the Lottery, it was a separate company with zero overlap to any other parts of the Virgin Group.
However, after two attempts to win the Lottery franchise as a non-profit making company - and being defeated twice by first the Conservative and then the Labour government - with a commercial for profit company winning both times, Branson said that he would not waste more time and money on bidding a third time. Don not forget also, that between the two bids, he won a libel case against a senior director of the company runing the Lottery, Camelot owned by an American company, who are still making profits from the Lottery.
For the record, I do not work for any branch of the Virgin Group, never have and doubt I ever will.