Virgin Group boss Mr Richard Branson stands to collect £100,000 in damages after Britain's Court of Appeal yesterday upheld a judgment that he was libelled by US lottery entrepreneur Mr Guy Snowden.
Branson sued Snowden over allegations that he lied when he told the BBC's Panorama programme that Snowden attempted to offer him a bribe.
He also sued Snowden's US-based company, GTECH Holdings Corp, which initially formed part of the Camelot consortium that holds the licence to run Britain's National Lottery until the end of September 2001.
Mr Snowden left GTECH in February 1998. He was named at the Moriarty Tribunal as an investor in Celtic Helicopters, the company in which Mr Ciaran Haughey, the son of the former Taoiseach, was a major shareholder. Branson's Virgin Group is expected to be among seven applicants - including leisure companies Rank Group Plc, Hilton Group Plc (formerly Ladbroke Group Plc) and Granada Group Plc - to challenge Camelot for the new licence.
In February 1998, Britain's High Court ordered Snowden to pay Branson £20,000 in damages. GTECH, which withdrew from Camelot last year, was told to pay £80,000.
Branson, whose Virgin Group lost its bid to run the lottery to Camelot, has long argued that Britain's lottery should be run on a non-profit basis.
Camelot's licence to operate the lottery runs out in 2001.
