Case before High Court
The High Court showdown between ex-porn Richard Desmond and the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) over the regulator’s awarding of the lottery contract to Allwyn is finally underway.
Northern & Shell submitted documents on the Thursday opening
Lawyers from the UKGC and Desmond’s firm Northern & Shell submitted documents on the Thursday opening of the £1.3bn ($1.7bn) lottery lawsuit trial.
While the billionaire media mogul’s lawyers called on the court for “generosity” when assessing their client’s huge claim, the UKGC’s lawyer dismissed Desmond’s chances of winning the case as “hopeless.”
Amid the claims came news that, should Desmond win, the £1.3bn payout will come out of the pockets of UK taxpayers and charities, courtesy of a lottery fund dedicated to good causes.
Opening demands, accusations
Desmond’s lawyers appear so confident of winning the case, they are already asking the judge for a maximum payout. Desmond’s lawyers on Thursday submitted to Mrs Justice Smith that should she find fault in the UKGC’s handling of the lottery contract award process, she should “err if anything on the side of the claimant” when awarding damages.
“fanciful” and scoring “extremely badly”
Whether Justice Smith errs on the side of taxpayers if Desmond wins remains to be seen, but the UKGC doesn’t think the ex-porn baron’s case stands a chance. In its own legal submissions Thursday, the UKGC’s attorney Sarah Hannaford KC dismissed Desmond’s bid for the National Lottery license in 2022 as “fanciful” and scoring “extremely badly” against other competition.
Hannaford stated it was “extremely unusual, if not unique, for a bidder who lost so spectacularly to argue that it should have won.” As such, the UKGC attorney submitted, Desmond’s claim for damages of £1.3bn to offset earnings his The New Lottery Company (TNLC) could have made if it won the lottery license was “hopeless”.
Hannaford’s aggressive tone continued, saying it was “wishful thinking” by Desmond’s lawyers to claim the TNLC could have won the lottery bid had the UKGC provided better feedback on its bid at an earlier stage.
Plenty at play
While the UKGC might sound confidently combative, Desmond has already administered two major reputational blows to the regulator; one over a secret payment and the other an “unprecedented blunder” involving the disclosure of sensitive documents.
In addition, Desmond’s lawyers submitted that Allwyn was an unsuitable choice to operate the lottery given its Karel Komarek-owned parent firm, KKCG, had a joint venture with Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant.
In addition, the ex-porn kingpins’ lawyers referenced two people connected to Allwyn who disclosed its ties to a financial services firm penalized by the Czech regulator. Desmond’s lawyer Daniel Toledano KC submitted that: “Neither of those matters was investigated properly or at all by the GC.”
