The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is beefing up its legal defence ahead of a looming lawsuit from billionaire Richard Desmond.

Scheduled to be viewed by the High Court in October, the case has been in the making for almost two years. 

In it, Desmond – owner of the New Lottery Company and Northern & Shell – accuses the UKGC of an unfair tender process for the fourth National Lottery licence, which was eventually awarded to Allwyn.

Initially looking for £1.3bn in compensation, Desmond later brought that sum down to £200m, likely to make the demands set out in the lawsuit more reasonable. He also turned down a £10m settlement offer by the UKGC.

Adding more weight to the plaintiff’s case will be a list of documents mistakenly handed over by the UKGC to Desmond’s legal team.

Earlier in May, a total of 4,321 documents not intended for Desmond’s lawyers were inadvertently disclosed by Hogan Lovells – the law firm representing the UKGC. This included bid assessments and DCMS correspondence, among others.

Judge Nerys Jefford, a key figure in the lawsuit, then allowed for any document that isn’t explicitly said to involve legal advice or carry legal privilege to be used by Desmond’s team – which Northern & Shell was quick to utilise as evidence in its case.

As a result, the UKGC is now seemingly strengthening its legal defence according to the 2024/25 annual reports from both the Commission and the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) – with the latter responsible for meeting all National Lottery expenses incurred by the Commission.

Cross-referencing both reports reveals a significant year-over-year uptick in costs related to the Commission’s National Lottery functions.

For the 12 months ending March 2025, total operational costs went up to £28.8m from the £14.4m the previous year.

Legal fees related to ongoing litigation costs came at £13.4m, up from £400k the previous year.

All in all, the biggest takeaway from this ongoing legal battle is that local communities will lose the most, with the NLDF being the primary storage for good causes funds raised by the National Lottery.