Richard Desmond sues the British Gambling Commission over National Lottery tender
The media tycoon says the British regulator made errors during the lottery tender.
UK.- It turns out legal issues around the Gambling Commission’s National Lottery tender aren’t yet over. Camelot’s challenge against the regulator’s decision to award the National Lottery licence to Allwyn may have ended when Allwyn bought the incumbent operator, but Northern & Shell, an outlying bidder, is now suing the regulator.
Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell had lost bids for the National Lottery before. It currently runs the so-called Health Lottery. It’s reportedly seeking up to £200m in damages from the Gambling Commission under European Union law, despite Desmond’s support for Brexit.
Desmond claims that there were flaws in the Gambling Commission’s auction process, which could have harmed the performance of Northern & Shell and its New Lottery Company subsidiary. It’s reported that the Gambling Commission thought very poorly of its bid, describing it as “fanciful”.
Of the four bidders for the lottery, Northern & Shell’s is the one we knew the least about since the company made nothing public, barely even confirming its participation. The other unsuccessful competitor bidder was Sisal, now owned by Flutter.
The Gambling Commission is reported to have given Desmond a paltry score of 57.5 per cent compared to 85.7 per cent for the incumbent Camelot and 87.2 per cent for the winner Allwyn. The score takes into account various factors such as the amount of money to go to good causes and the overall business plan.
Desmond’s claims mistakes were made in calculating the scores and argues that he should have been given feedback to allow him to withdraw his bid and save on costs if there was no chance of it being successful.
If the Gambling Commission has to fight Desmond’s lawsuit, the money to pay for the cost will probably come from National Lottery funds for good causes. Allwyn, the former Sazka, will take up the UK National Lottery operations from February.
