Risk for taxpayer as Desmond begins high court lottery case

The media billionaire Richard Desmond will begin a bitter courtroom battle with the Gambling Commission this week that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds in a row over the licence to run the National Lottery.

- Rob Davies

Northern & Shell and The New Lottery Company (TNLC), owned by Desmond, are suing the gambling regulator for up to £1.3bn, alleging “manifest errors” in the competition process for Britain’s largest public sector contract, the lottery licence.

Allwyn, a new vehicle ultimately owned by the Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, won the 10-year licence in 2022 and has run the draw since 2024, the first time in the lottery’s 30-year history that it had been run by a company other than Camelot.

Dubai-based Desmond - the former proprietor of titles including the Daily Express, Asian Babes and Readers' Wives - has since launched a series of legal challenges linked to the decision. Sources close to Desmond said he felt he was needlessly strung along, wasting millions on a bid process that was predetermined.