Allwyn UK has gained confidence in the National Lottery’s retail operations and its ambitious plans to double weekly returns to good causes after assessing internal data.
The company found that retail ticket sales are making a substantial contribution to good cause funds, despite both Allwyn and the Gambling Commission’s stats showing that lottery sales are shifting more and more towards online.
According to Allwyn, more than 51% of lottery tickets purchased in 2025 were bought via digital channels. This of course does mean that a hefty 49% were still bought in-store, however, and this has translated to good causes fundraising.
Tickets sold by independent retailers have raised more than £10bn for good causes, with an average of 23p from every £1 spent on the National Lottery going to good causes. These funds are spread across some 680,000 art, community, heritage and sports projects across the UK.
Alastair Ruxton, Chief Impact Officer of Allwyn UK, said: “Most people in the UK live within half a mile of a Lottery funded Good Cause project, in no small part due to the extraordinary efforts of independent retailers who sell National Lottery tickets.
“The remarkable £10bn local retailers have raised for Good Causes around the country has helped train Olympic and Paralympic athletes, fund award-winning British films and our world-renowned brilliant museums and galleries, as well as supporting thousands of vital community, education and heritage projects.”
UK retail lottery back on track
Allwyn UK took charge of the National Lottery in February 2024. The firm won the 2022 National Lottery licence contest, unseating Camelot UK – the sole operator of the National lottery since the lottery’s inception in 1994.
The company has set itself an ambitious target as National Lottery operator – that of doubling returns to good causes from £30m to £60m by the end of its 10 year licence in 2034. To this end, it has sought to diversify National Lottery products, such as launching Powerball outside of the US for the first time.
It has also embarked on a huge upgrade of retail infrastructure, in partnership with Scientific Games. This is a requirement of Allwyn’s contract with the Gambling Commission as National Lottery licence holder, and saw a massive upgrade undertaken in August 2025.
While there were some teething problems – a few different retailers reported issues and initial difficulties with the new technology shortly after the rollout – the figures released today suggest that those issues are well behind Allwyn and its retailer partners.
Allwyn has cited specific retailers as being particularly successful – Monty Dipoti’s Todmorden News in West Yorkshire raised over £2.3m, Kuljit Athwal’s Premier Grand Avenue Stores in Cardiff raised over £1m, and Seve Weight’s Borough Green Stores in Kent raised over £1.4m.
Nicola Adams, 2012 Olympic gold medalist and former WBO world champion, commented: “I would not have won Olympic gold were it not for the funding made possible by incredible independent retailers like Monty – they are the heartbeat of their local communities.
“Thanks to their hard work, Good Causes like Northern Powerhouse Boxing Academy get the support they need, guiding the way for the next generation of Olympians.”
