Richard Desmond, the Brexit-backing media tycoon, is invoking EU law to sue the gambling regulator after it rejected his “fanciful” bid to run the national lottery, in a suit that could deprive good causes of millions of pounds.
The former owner of the Daily Express has vowed previously to seek damages from the Gambling Commission after his company Northern & Shell missed out on a 10-year contract, worth £6.5bn, to run the lottery from next year.
Desmond is expected to claim that the gambling regulator made “numerous manifest errors” during a bitter and prolonged bidding war that ended when the commission named the Czech-owned operator Allwyn as the winner.
