The owner of the Daily Express, Richard Desmond, is reportedly lining up a bid for the rights to run and own the National Lottery.

He already owns a rival lottery by the name of “Health Lottery” and is preparing a bid when the UK Lottery license comes up for renewal in 2019. The National Lottery is currently owned by Camelot which in turn is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ pension plan and they currently hold the rights to the National Lottery until the year 2023.

Desmond’s holding company, Northern and Shell, which owns his newspaper titles will launch the bid. He says they are going to go for it irrespective of any regulatory changes which might be made. They aim to be in the Lottery business soon in order to maximise profits.

Richard is currently in talks to sell his newspaper to a rival newspaper and has been found to be repeatedly pressurizing the government to allow competitors to stand a chance of winning smaller jackpots such as £1m. Desmonds’ current Health Lottery is not a national lottery but is a collection of about 51 local lotteries which aim to raise funds for various health-related causes. The Health Lottery however has lost over £160m since it was launched six years ago.