Day: October 5, 2025

Billionaire suing Gambling Commission for up to £1.3bn over licence award, with payout potentially funded by the taxpayer

The media billionaire Richard Desmond will begin a bitter courtroom battle with the Gambling Commission this week that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds in a row over the licence to run the National Lottery.

Northern & Shell and The New Lottery Company (TNLC), owned by Desmond, are suing the gambling regulator for up to £1.3bn, alleging “manifest errors” in the labyrinthine competition process for Britain’s largest public sector contract, the lottery licence.

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Husamettin Dogan, 44, was sentenced to nine years in prison at trial of 51 men last year where all were found guilty

Gisèle Pelicot, who survived almost a decade of rape involving dozens of men after she was drugged by her ex-husband, will attend court in France again on Monday after one of the men convicted of raping her faces a second trial after appealing against his verdict.

Pelicot became a feminist hero after she decided to waive her right to anonymity in the 2024 trial of her former husband and 50 other men last year.

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