Hogan Lovells and Quinn win as media tycoon’s £1.3bn National Lottery claim fails

Hogan Lovells and Quinn Emanuel have secured a major High Court victory, successfully defending the award of the National Lottery contract against a high-profile challenge brought by media mogul Richard Desmond.

Desmond’s lottery bid vehicle the New Lottery Company (TNLC) and its parent Northern & Shell sued the Gambling Commission for £1.3 billion after it lost the contract bid in 2022 to Allwyn, a company ultimately owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek.

The claim alleged that the award process for the fourth UK National Lottery Licence had been run improperly.

Claim dismissed

In a judgment handed down on Friday (17 April) following a three-month trial that concluded in January, Mrs Justice Joanna Smith dismissed all allegations that the regulator had run an unfair bidding process, saying it was “fanciful to suppose that TNLC would have won” the bid.

The claim also challenged modifications the regulator made to the successful bidder’s licence - but the court found the changes were made to reflect delays caused by earlier “hostile litigation” brought in 2022 and 2023 by previous licence holder Camelot and IGT.

A hearing on costs and other consequential issues has been listed for May. Northern & Shell said it will appeal the decision.

‘A resounding victory’

Hogan Lovells represented the Gambling Commission, with Quinn Emanuel acting for Allwyn, which joined the proceedings as an interested party. BCLP acted for Northern & Shell.

The Quinn Emanuel team was led by London partner Dominic Roughton. The firm has acted on all three challenges brought against the regulator regarding the licence since 2022. 

Roughton said the judgment was “a resounding victory and a complete vindication of Allwyn, its bid and the Gambling Commission’s decision to award Allwyn the 4th Licence”.

“Northern & Shell’s ‘fanciful’ and ‘speculative’ claims have been seen for what they are and have been rightly dismissed in full,” he added.