The Court of Appeal has refused The New Lottery Company Limited and Northern & Shell permission to appeal part of a High Court ruling that upheld the Gambling Commission’s award of the fourth National Lottery licence to Allwyn. The decision leaves the licence award, and the changes made during implementation, in place.
Lord Justice Coulson dismissed all three grounds of appeal. He said TNLC should not be allowed to introduce a new legal argument that had already been ruled out below, and added that its prospects of success would have been “vanishingly small”; the court also noted the company had suffered no loss in practical terms.
The dispute had already been heard in the High Court, which on 17 April rejected in full the claims brought by TNLC and Northern & Shell. The trial ran before Mrs Justice Joanna Smith from 9 October to 2 December 2025, with an extra hearing day on 13 January.
Those claims said the regulator had wrongly awarded the Fourth National Lottery Licence to Allwyn and that TNLC should have won instead. They also alleged that the Gambling Commission and Allwyn had entered into impermissible modifications after the competition.
The Gambling Commission has said it ran a “fair and robust competition” and that none of the contested changes to the licence were substantial or contrary to procurement rules. It said the ruling gave “resounding support” to Good Causes and would allow Allwyn, under its oversight, to continue investing in The National Lottery without further distraction.
The Commission first issued an award notification to Allwyn Entertainment Ltd in September 2022. It published updated versions of the licence and supporting documents before the third licence expired on 31 January 2024, with the fourth licence beginning the next day.
Separately, the Competition Appeal Tribunal dealt with a subsidy-control review over a Gambling Commission decision from 19 July 2023. That case concerned use of £70.21 million for a marketing investment proposal submitted by Camelot, the former operator under the third licence.
Since launching in 1994, National Lottery players have raised more than £53 billion for more than 680,000 Good Causes across the UK, according to the Commission.
