The UK National Lottery will shut down for two nights in August as operator Allwyn undertakes both retail and online technological upgrades.
The company, a multinational operator of National Lotteries while also maintaining some interests in betting and gaming, is in its second year of operating the National Lottery under a 10-year licence.
One year and five months after taking over the licence, having also acquired former licence holder Camelot UK, the company is replacing thousands of National Lottery retail terminals with a new design, Wave terminals.
These terminals will feature new software and have been described by Allwyn as ‘state of the art’. Allwyn is confident that this will enable quicker and more functional transactions for retailers and players.
Allwyn’s Director of Operations, Jenny Blogg, explained: “These critical tech upgrades follow on from our continuous progress in modernising The National Lottery, which hasn’t had a major refresh since 2009.
“This includes introducing a fresh new look in our 43,500 retail partners with new stands, dispensers and signage, as well as rolling out state-of-the-art lottery terminals and a new in-store network provided by Vodafone.”
To complete the upgrades, the National Lottery will be taken offline between Saturday 2 August and Monday 4 August. This will start at 11pm on Saturday and finish at an undermined time on Monday, only confirmed by Allwyn as concluding ‘late Monday morning’.
This has been scheduled to take place after the Saturday Lotto and Thunderball draws, with the National Lottery website, app and retail lottery terminals all shut down. This will prevent players from logging into accounts, buying draw tickets and claiming prizes.
Allwyn’s upgrade to National Lottery infrastructure comes about as the lottery faces some challenges, particularly declining ticket sales and the mounting competition from smaller charity lotteries.
On the latter topic, society lotteries may stand to gain at some point in the future in two ways. Firstly, the government is looking at whether to raise the cap on ticket sales these lotteries are subject to, and secondly there are calls for Northern Ireland to allow these lotteries to operate.
Both of these scenarios could deal a blow to the National Lottery, and Allwyn has spoken out against the latter. However, the firm remains confident it can achieve its sales and fundraising goals, including an ambition to double the amount returned to good causes from £30m to £60m by the end of its licence.
New leadership needed stateside
Meanwhile, over 2,000 miles away Allwyn has got a recruitment drive on its hands. The company has confirmed that Wayne Pickup, CEO of Allwyn North America, will be vacating the role on 14 November,
Allwyn stated that Pickup will continue to work on the group’s operational performance and strategic direction over the following months. It is unclear whether the company will opt to promote someone internally from its 6,000 strong international workforce or make an external hire from the extensive US lottery or gaming spaces, or perhaps from a regulator.
Pickup remarked: “After eight transformative years, I’m grateful for the trust this organization has placed in me and proud of what we’ve accomplished together.
“I’m confident in the strong foundation we’ve built and excited to see the continued success that lies ahead for this exceptional team.”
While Allwyn may soon have a recruitment drive for a new US CEO underway – something which couldn’t be more timely as competitors like Intralot also eye up opportunities in the US lottery sector – it is taking on new challenges and objectives in Europe.
For the most part, Allwyn’s business model is an operator of national lotteries such as in the UK, Czech Republic and Austria, though it also has some casino assets such as those held by the Casinos Austria subsidiary, and is involved in sports betting via its shareholding in OPAP and Stoixman, and its forthcoming shareholding in Novibet.
In North America, its focus is much more B2B, partly due to many state-owned lotteries being run in-house and not via an outsourced contract as is the case in the UK and other European markets, for example.
Pickup first joined the company in 2018, moving to the US from New Zealand where his career in lotteries had spanned well over a decade, primarily with Lotto New Zealand including tenures as Chief Information Officer and later Chief Executive. He also worked with B2B lottery supplier IGT in Australia as GM Australasia Sales and Operations.
Since joining Allwyn North America he has overseen an expansion of its B2B content portfolio in the US, which now encompasses around 300 games which have already proven popular in European markets. The company supplies the likes of the DC Lottery, having recently renewed its partnership with this company.
“The entire Allwyn team thanks Wayne for his leadership and vision, which have helped to put Allwyn North America on the map,” said Allwyn Group CEO, Robert Chvatal.
“While we’re sorry to see Wayne go, we look forward to working with him over the coming months on a smooth transition to new leadership.
“We have begun the search for Wayne’s successor, who will continue driving growth in the Illinois Lottery and the expansion of our wider North American business over the coming months and years.”