Northern & Shell and The New Lottery Company are suing the Gambling Commission in London over its decision to award the National Lottery licence to Allwyn. The companies seek up to £1.3bn in damages, alleging flaws in the tender; the Commission stands by the process and disputes their case.
The claim puts the regulator’s lottery tender decision and potential damages to lottery funds under scrutiny.
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The UK's National Audit Office has begun a review of the fourth National Lottery licence, examining how the Gambling Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport designed and awarded it and oversaw the transition from Camelot to Allwyn. The report is expected in spring 2027. Allwyn took over operation in February 2024.
Reportedly, the National Audit Office has started examining the current National Lottery licence. The public spending watchdog plans to assess whether the Gambling Commission's supervision is producing the strongest achievable benefits for good causes now that Allwyn UK has run the lottery since February 2024. Findings are due in spring 2027.
Sarah Gardner, the Gambling Commission’s interim chief executive, praised Allwyn’s player-protection measures at a company conference in the UK. She said the National Lottery raised £1.7bn for good causes in the past year and described Allwyn’s new online safeguards as positive, while noting early implementation difficulties.
The Gambling Commission published annual gambling statistics for Great Britain covering April 2025 to March 2026. National Lottery sales reached £7.935bn, up 0.9% year on year, while sales for other lotteries rose 5.7% to £1.171bn. The consumer-facing gambling sector generated £17.5bn in gross gambling yield, an increase of 4.4%.
The UK Gambling Commission reported £28.8 million in National Lottery-related costs for the year ending March 2025, compared with £14.4 million in the previous year. The accounts attributed £13.4 million to litigation, while Richard Desmond is suing over the award of the fourth licence to Allwyn and seeks £1.3 billion in damages.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal rejected claims by Richard Desmond’s lottery companies that the Gambling Commission unlawfully approved £70m in marketing support for Camelot Group. The tribunal found no legal grounds to conclude that the approval breached the Subsidy Control Act 2022; Camelot is now owned by Allwyn UK.