Dirty Des’ Lottery Lies Exposed

Richard “Dirty” Desmond, owner of the Express and Daily Star titles, where hacks have not had a pay rise for eight years, likes to tell anyone listening that he does not interfere with the content of those papers. He said as much to the Leveson Inquiry. But Dirty Des was caught being seriously economical with the actualité in 2009, when he sued biographer Tom Bower and lost, landing himself with a £1.25 million legal bill.

The propaganda ...

During that case, Desmond was shown to regularly interfere with the content of his papers, using them to run hatchet jobs on his opponents. Worse for him, Bower called Roy Greenslade, who knows a thing or two about proprietorial interference. He “told the jury Desmond had a worse reputation than any newspaper proprietor since the second world war, including Robert Maxwell”. And he’s still at it today.

The Daily Star has this morning treated readers not to the usual sex’n’slebs combination, but a story planted to specifically promote another of Desmond’s businesses, the so-called Health Lottery. “ANGRY BRITS SAY BALLS TO ‘NO WIN’ LOTTERY … Fury at 29th rollover since numbers increased” thunders the headline, as Dirty Des puts the boot in to the National Lottery, in an effort to drum up a little more business for his rival outfit.

And to no surprise at all, this story has also appeared in the Daily Express, under the headline “Yet ANOTHER rollover as new Lottery proves massive disappointment for punters”. The recent spate of planted stories has been as impressive as it has been predictable, kicking off with the Express’ “Now 'rip-off' National Lottery adds 10 MORE balls – slashing odds of winning to one in 45m” on October 10 last.

... versus the reality

That was followed by “Fury as National Lottery hits 10th jackpot rollover”, also in the Express, on December 29. Then it was over to the Daily Star, where readers were told of “Angry punters call for Lotto boycott after 14th consecutive rollover” on January 8, followed three days later by “Fury over National Lottery rollovers windfall”. And while using his papers for business propaganda is bad enough, there is worse news to come.

The National Lottery allocates 5.6p in every £ to running costs and profits. For the so-called Health Lottery, that rises to a whopping 50.4p, and gives Dirty Des a very nice little earner indeed. The “return to society” - all those good causes that both lotteries claim to benefit - shows that the so-called Health Lottery gives less than half the percentage of takings than the National Lottery. And it’s the same when it comes to prize money.

Desmond’s lottery has been running since 2011. The idea that it is still repaying start-up costs is not credible. So there can be only one conclusion: if anyone’s lottery is a “rip-off”, it’s Dirty Des’. Worse, the so-called Health Lottery is publicised by stories planted in Desmond’s papers which are so seriously misleading as to veer very close to the defamation line. The so-called Health Lottery is crap, and it’s backed up by deceit.

And Richard Desmond still has the worst reputation of any newspaper proprietor. So what does that give us? Yes, it’s another Benchmark Of Excellence!