QE welcomes today’s judgment from Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE comprehensively dismissing the claims brought against the Gambling Commission by Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell plc and The New Lottery Company Limited. Their claims challenged the Gambling Commission’s running of the Competition for the 4th UK National Lottery Licence and modifications made to the Licence following its award to Allwyn in 2022. Allwyn appeared in the litigation as an interested party to support the integrity of the Competition and to protect Good Causes .
By the close of the 3 month trial in January 2026, many of Northern & Shell’s allegations had been abandoned. In a 500-page judgment critical of Northern & Shell in its running of the litigation, the Judge dismissed the remainder of its claims in full.
The Judge specifically found that during the Competition for the 4th Licence, Northern & Shell had been properly disqualified from the Competition for “failing over half” of the 23 “different mandatory requirements” necessary for its bid to be considered, that there was an “enormous gap” of over 30% in scores between its bid and Allwyn’s bid, and that Northern & Shell had stood no real chance of winning the Competition. The Licence had therefore been fairly and properly awarded by the Gambling Commission to Allwyn.
The Judge also found that the modifications made to the Licence by the Gambling Commission were lawful. Confirming that they were not made necessary due to any fault of Allwyn – as Northern & Shell had initially claimed – the Judge found that they had instead been caused by the “hostile litigation” pursued by Camelot and IGT between 2022 and 2023 and “would almost certainly have been required irrespective of the identity of the successful bidder ”. The Gambling Commission were therefore justified in modifying Allwyn’s Licence to take account of the delays that Camelot and IGT had caused.
Addressing Northern & Shell’s claims for £1.3 billion damages, the Judge held that they had suffered no loss because it is “fanciful to suppose that TNLC would have won” any competition against Allwyn, the “world leader in conducting lotteries”.
Supported by Allwyn’s in-house legal team, QE have now successfully represented Allwyn in all three High Court challenges to the 2022 award to Allwyn of the 4th Licence. The claims – brought by Camelot, IGT and Northern & Shell – have now all been dismissed.
Dominic Roughton, (pictured) who has led the QE team representing Allwyn since 2022 said, “Quinn Emanuel have now successfully represented Allwyn in all three litigations over the 2022 award to Allwyn of the 4th National Lottery Licence. Mrs Justice Joanna Smith’s judgment is 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. Allwyn can now focus on delivering their bid and vision for the National Lottery, free of the distraction and disruption that 4 years of litigation have brought.”
A hearing on costs and other consequential issues has been listed for Friday, 22 May 2026.
The QE team was led by Dominic Roughton, with associates Marjun Parcasio, Annabel Elliott, Daniel Brinkman, Ben Hamilton and senior legal assistant Ralina Minnakhmetova instructing Mark Howard KC and Malcolm Birdling (appointed King’s Counsel following the end of the trial) of Brick Court and Joseph Barrett KC of 11 King’s Bench Walk. They were instructed and supported throughout by the Allwyn in-house team of Jonathan Handyside (Group General Counsel), Harry Willits (UK General Counsel) and David Harris (Consultant Solicitor).
ALLWYN – MEDIA BRIEFING AND STATEMENT
The New Lottery Company Ltd (TNLC) and its parent, Northern & Shell PLC, challenged as unsuccessful bidders, the Gambling Commission’s decision in the Fourth National Lottery Licence Competition, made in 2022, to appoint Allwyn to run the Fourth National Lottery Licence from 1 February 2024.
The case concerned (1) the conduct and outcome of the licence competition, and (2) subsequent modifications made to the Licence/Enabling Agreement to manage delays and higher costs.
The High Court has dismissed TNLC’s claims against the Gambling Commission in full, rejecting both strands of the case and providing clarity and certainty for the Commission and for delivery of the Fourth Licence. TNLC’s damages claims — seeking more than £1.3 billion—have been rejected, as has its claim that the Fourth Licence should be terminated early.
Given the material impact of the case on both the licence process and the wider National Lottery ecosystem, Allwyn participated as an interested party to support the Gambling Commission to help protect the integrity and stability of the National Lottery and the Good Causes it supports.
The Judge (Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE):
- Found that the Gambling Commission ran a fair and lawful licence competition, properly awarding the Fourth National Lottery Licence to Allwyn;
- Upheld the Commission’s assessment that TNLC did not meet mandatory requirements (failing 12 out of 23 pass/fail criteria across propriety, protecting participants and financial strength) and did not make any manifest error in its scoring – TNLC scored 57.5% versus Allwyn’s 87.18% and Camelot’s 85.67%;
- Further found the delays suffered by Allwyn were not caused by Allwyn, but by factors outside Allwyn’s control, namely:
- the unsuccessful applicants’ litigation (Camelot, IGT and TNLC); and
- IGT needing a commercial agreement for the technology transfer from Camelot to Allwyn;
- Accepted that:
- Good Causes and Allwyn have suffered very significant reductions in the revenue realised from the Fourth Licence (c.£250m for Allwyn), as Allwyn’s measures designed to increase revenue generation have not yet been fully implemented;
- Allwyn has suffered additional losses, including:
i. significantly increased implementation costs for the transition which Allwyn will also recover later than it originally expected – the total of the implementation costs are now about £450m;
ii. having to pay a further multi-million payment to IGT to extend its commercial agreement;
iii. increased unrecoverable financing costs (at least £110m over the 10 years); and
- Allwyn invested £120m at its risk to acquire Camelot to try to smooth the transition.
This decision should now bring to a close years of litigation that created prolonged uncertainty around the transition to the Fourth Licence which Allwyn has now delivered. With that now resolved, Allwyn can concentrate on delivering what matters most under the Fourth National Lottery Licence: getting on with launching new games and increasing funding for good causes.
The Licence is designed to set clear outcomes and standards that drive up returns to good causes while allowing flexibility in how they are achieved—supporting innovation, faster product development, and a National Lottery that remains competitive and relevant for the future, with strong accountability throughout.
Allwyn has delivered the biggest transformation of the National Lottery in 30 years, backed by over £450 million of investment into upgraded retail systems, new gaming platforms, expanded digital capability, and strengthened player protections. This modernisation programme has supported strong sales growth and significantly increased the funds available for good causes.
- Good‑cause returns rose to £1.7 billion in 2025, equivalent to £33 million a week, up from £30 million a week when Allwyn took over in February 2024.
- Allwyn is on track to double weekly good‑cause contributions from £30 million to £60 million a week by 2034, securing long‑term growth for community funding.
- Only this week, we have announced two new games with the introduction of New Lotto and Powerball later this summer.
Together, these developments mark a clear turning point: legal certainty in respect of the Licence competition, and full focus on delivering a strengthened, modernised National Lottery—already generating more for good causes and positioned to deliver even more over the remainder of the Fourth Licence.
“We welcome today’s clear and comprehensive judgment, which confirms that the Gambling Commission ran a fair and lawful licence competition, properly awarding the Fourth National Lottery Licence to Allwyn. The court further found that both Good Causes and Allwyn have suffered significant losses due to the delays caused by litigation brought by the unsuccessful applicants.
It also draws a line under a long-running series of allegations about the integrity of the competition process, many of which were withdrawn during the proceedings, with the remainder rejected by the court. The judgment provides clarity and legal certainty, and our focus now is on delivering for players and increasing funding for good causes. That means moving faster on innovation such as New Lotto and Powerball, which we announced earlier this week.”
