The millionaire, Mr Richard Branson, was awarded £120,000 sterling libel damages yesterday after a jury decided a US businessman, Mr Guy Snowden, tried to bribe him to withdraw his rival bid for running Britain's national lottery.
The 47-year-old Virgin empire boss and US-based lottery company G-Tech had sued each other in the libel case, Mr Branson accusing his rival of offering a bribe and Mr Snowden suing Mr Branson for suggesting he had done so. G-Tech, founded by Mr Snowden, owns a large stake in the British National Lottery operator Camelot, which won the lottery franchise in 1994 against bids by other consortia, including one from Virgin.
After the verdict was handed down at the High Court in London, Mr Snowden said he was quitting the board of Camelot, saying it was "the right thing to do at this point". He earned £3 million last year. Mr Branson said the National Lottery should now be taken out of the hands of Camelot and handed over to an operator prepared to give all the profits to good causes.
Mr Snowden (52) was not a Camelot director at the time of the bribe in September 1993, although his company now has a 22.5 per cent stake in the consortium. It is to run the National Lottery until 2001.
In a statement, Camelot sought to distance itself from the courtroom drama, insisting the case had no implications for the operation of the lottery.
Ms Joanna Manning-Cooper said it was "business as usual" at Camelot. "The case was a civil dispute not a criminal case between Guy Snowden and Richard Branson," she said.