British Tycoon Wins Libel Case Against GTech

British tycoon Richard Branson on Monday won a bitter libel case against a U.S. rival who he said offered him a bribe to drop his bid to run Britain’s national lottery.

Branson was awarded $192,000 in damages against GTech Holdings Corp. and its head, Guy Snowden, after a tense three-week trial in the High Court in London. The flamboyant billionaire said he would give to the award to charity.

Snowden and West Greenwich, R.I.-based GTech also were ordered to pay Branson’s legal costs, which Branson estimated at $1.6 million.

GTech, the largest operator of lottery games in the world, is the primary contractor of California’s lottery games.

Snowden said he would step down immediately as a director of Camelot, the consortium GTech formed to run the British lottery, and from GTech UK Ltd., its British subsidiary. But he will remain GTech Holdings’ chairman.

GTech shares fell $1.13 to close at $29 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Branson, the 47-year-old head of the Virgin Group of businesses that range from music stores to an airline, alleged that Snowden tried to bribe him at a lunch in September 1993 to abandon his attempt to run the game on a not-for-profit basis.

Two years after the lunch, Branson, famous for his round-the-world balloon attempts, accused Snowden of bribery on a BBC television news show that took a critical look at GTech’s operations. When GTech and Snowden called the charge false, Branson sued for defamation.

Branson said the lottery regulation office should immediately replace Director General Peter Davis, who said during the trial that he gave Camelot the lottery contract despite allegations about GTech’s business practices.

A spokeswoman said Davis had no intention of resigning.