Media tycoon Richard Desmond has lost his legal bid for up to £1.3 billion in damages from the UK Gambling Commission (the government body that regulates gambling and oversees the national lottery licensing process), after a court rejected his claim that the regulator made critical errors in awarding the national lottery licence to a rival bidder. Mrs Justice Smith ruled that Desmond's companies — Northern & Shell and the New Lottery Company — failed to prove any "manifest error" in the process that awarded the lucrative 10-year, £6.5 billion contract to Allwyn, a vehicle owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, which has operated the lottery since 2024. The ruling ends a prolonged and costly dispute that saw Desmond, a former newspaper and television proprietor, accumulate an estimated £55 million in legal fees while rejecting an earlier £10 million settlement offer; had he succeeded, the damages would likely have been drawn from lottery funds earmarked for good causes.