Richard Desmond has been dealt a legal defeat in his lawsuit against the UK Gambling Commission.
On Friday, 17 April, the High Court of England and Wales sided with the Commission, dismissing the £1bn claim made against the regulator which alleged an unfair granting of the Fourth National Lottery License.
The claim was filed by The New Lottery Company (TNLC) – a lottery company that was set up by Desmond, a UK media tycoon, and his publishing group Northern & Shell.
TNLC was one of the competitors for the National Lottery licence, alongside the previous operator Camelot UK and the current licence holder Allwyn.
An independent board formed by the Commission passed TNLC’s initial submission, but rejected it in the second phase, citing concerns about its compliance and technical accountability.
With the other two competitors progressing to the later stages, Allwyn was ultimately chosen as the next operator of the National Lottery licence.
TNLC then began legal proceedings, claiming that the tender process was flawed and Allwyn UK’s win should be disqualified. Adding to its arguments, Desmond’s company accused the Commission of intentionally prolonging the tender process to ensure that Allwyn can fulfil a core requirement of its bid.
Today, Justice Joanne Smith rejected these claims, highlighting that the adjustments to the process had “no causal relevance to the Process Claim”, and that the TNLC’s own application had failed to meet necessary criteria.
The Commission was quick to welcome the decision, adding: “The judgment gives resounding support to Good Causes by enabling Allwyn, with oversight from the Commission, to continue with their plans of investment in The National Lottery without further distraction.
“Our priority remains to continue regulating The National Lottery for the benefit of participants and Good Causes.”
For Lottery Daily, Allwyn commented that the High Court’s ruling is further evidence of a tender process that has been kept to the highest levels of integrity.
“The Gambling Commission ran a fair and lawful licence competition, properly awarding the Fourth National Lottery Licence to Allwyn,” the firm concluded.
“This provides clarity and legal certainty, and our focus now is on delivering for players and increasing funding for good causes.
“It also draws a line under a long-running series of allegations about the integrity of the competition process, many of which were withdrawn during the proceedings, with the remainder rejected by the court.”
The High Court’s judgement comes a few weeks after the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) rejected Desmond’s legal claim against a multi-million pound marketing subsidy given to Camelot UK by the Commission.