By SAM GREENHILL, THE CHIEF REPORTER Published: 15:52 BST, 8 October 2025 | Updated: 12:42 BST, 17 April 2026
Billionaire Richard Desmond is embarking on a courtroom battle to demand £1.3billion after failing to win the competition to run The National Lottery.If he wins the jackpot in his high-stakes High Court case against the gambling regulator, it could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.Mr Desmond - the former proprietor of titles including the Daily Express – alleges the competition process for Britain’s largest public sector contract, the lottery licence, was unfair.Since its inception in 1994, the lottery was run by Camelot. But the operator changed hands for the first time when Allwyn won the 10-year licence in 2022, and took over running the draw last year. Mr Desmond and his firms, The New Lottery Company and Northern & Shell, came third in the bidding process.Now in a High Court showdown starting on Thursday and expected to last seven weeks, they will allege ‘manifest errors’ in the bidding process. He is demanding £1.3billion in damages for the money he says he would have made from running the draw over a decade. Richard Desmond and his wife Joy pictured in 2024. Mr Desmond and his firms are now suing the Gambling Commission for £1.3billion. The National Lottery was run by Camelot for 30 years, before being handed over to new operator Allwyn following a bidding process in 2022 that Mr Desmond claims was unfair Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, which is being sued by Mr Desmond's companies. It says awarding the contract to Allwyn was 'fair, open and robust' Victory for the Dubai-based tycoon could have a significant cost for charities and the taxpayer. If he wins, it will be up to regulator the Gambling Commission and the government to decide who pays any compensation owed to Mr Desmond. Either taxpayer funds or the good causes pot would have to be raided to settle any payout.The claim for damages is denied, with the Gambling Commission defending its decision to place Mr Desmond’s bid third, and saying it followed ‘a fair, open and robust competition’. Its chief executive Andrew Rhodes has previously told MPs that legal claims against the commission could lose good causes millions of pounds.Mr Desmond argues the outcome of the lottery licence process was predetermined. It is said he felt he was needlessly strung along, wasting £17.5million on a bid process that he was never going to win.
