UK Gambling Commission Accused of Aiding Allwyn During National Lottery Tender

^{Pictured: Richard Desmond and Karel Komárek}

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has been accused of assisting Allwyn — the company owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek — during the tender process for the right to operate the National Lottery, reports The Telegraph.

The lawsuit against the regulator was filed by British businessman Richard Desmond, whose company The New Lottery Company also competed for the license. Desmond is seeking up to £1.3 billion ($1.74 billion) in damages, alleging that the UKGC made serious errors in conducting the tender.

According to Desmond’s legal team, the UKGC informed Allwyn that its proposed 10% management fee for running the lottery was excessive. They argue that this feedback violated tender rules and gave Allwyn an unfair advantage, as other bidders did not receive similar comments.

The dispute centers on the Operator Sales Share (OSS) — the portion of lottery revenue retained by the operator. In the first stage of the tender, Allwyn proposed to keep 10% of sales, allocating the remainder to charitable causes. Following the regulator’s feedback, the company significantly reduced that figure in the second round to align with its competitors’ bids.

Former UKGC Commercial Director Andrew Wilson, who oversaw the tender, said he found the 10% figure “suspiciously round” and believed it might have been a technical error. In his testimony, he explained that the Commission decided to highlight the issue to ensure it was corrected in the second stage of evaluation.

Representatives of the regulator maintain that they were entitled to provide participants with comments on the “weaknesses, omissions, or ambiguities” of their applications. According to Wilson, the UKGC “chose its words carefully” to avoid the appearance of offering advice to a single bidder.

Desmond’s legal team rejects this reasoning. His lawyer, Daniel Toledano, argued that the feedback Allwyn received effectively indicated that its OSS proposal was higher than those of its competitors.

Earlier, Gambling Park reported on Allwyn’s merger with the Greek operator OPAP.