Wayne Pickup is returning to Oceania to take on the leadership role at Australia‘s The Lottery Corporation (TLC), after a long stint working in the North American lottery space.
Moving to Brisbane from Chicago, Pickup has been recruited as CEO and Managing Director of TLC, the largest lottery company in Australia with operations in all but one of the country’s six states.
Pickup has worked in lotteries since the early 2000s, cutting his teeth in Oceania during a five year term at Lotto NZ, leaving in 2008 in the role of Chief Information Officer. He would then move to Sydney to become GM Australasia Sales and Operations at B2B firm IGT (now Brightstar).
Pickup joins TLC’s Australia leadership mission
His return to Australian lotteries comes three years after TLC divested from Tabcorp, the country’s largest betting and gaming operator, a process which concluded with the firm making a bold entry into Australian gaming with record revenues in H1 2022.
TLC manages the ‘Tatts’ branded lottery in Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory, as well as the New South Wales Lotteries, South Australian Lotteries and Golden Casket Lottery Corporation in Queensland. The only state it is not active in is Western Australia.
Dr Doug McTaggart, Chairman of TLC, said: “Wayne is a proven leader with a strong track record and a deep understanding of lotteries developed over many years in the industry.
“Having held senior leadership roles in technology, product management and game management, Wayne brings a diverse skill set and understanding of high-performing lotteries businesses.”
Pickup joins TLC after seven years working as CEO of Allwyn North AMerica, the US and Canada-facing division of multinational lottery firm Allwyn, the operator of the UK National Lottery, Czech National Lottery, and Casinos Austria, among other assets.
Allwyn announced late last week that Pickup was departing the company, with his last day being 14 November 2025. Pickup oversaw the rollout of Allwyn’s solutions across various US states, with the firm’s North American operations being much more B2B in nature than its B2C European activity.
His return to Australia also comes at the same time that Allwyn has opted to roll back in the country, having accepted an offer for its 42% stake in the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns, which had been held by Casinos Austria.
Pickup will take over the reins at TLC from Sue van der Merwe, who had been in the CEO role for three years. Her contributions to the firm were praised as helping it become “the leading operator of lottery and Keno games in Australia” by Chairman McTaggart.
On his new role at TLC, Pickup remarked: Pickup said: “I am honoured by the appointment and excited to join TLC at such a pivotal time.
“The Australian lottery market has tremendous potential for innovation and growth and I look forward to working with the talented team at TLC to deliver value for shareholders while enhancing the lottery experience for millions of customers across Australia.”