Allwyn has surpassed the £450m investment milestone into the modernisation of the National Lottery since it first acquired the operating licence in 2024.

The news was touted by the company as the “biggest transformation” of the lottery since its launch in 1994, positioning it for long-term growth in the digital era.

As a reminder, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) launched an investigation last year citing a potential breach of contract as it alleged that the full rollout of the planned updates has gone past the agreed deadline. 

While an official outcome of that investigation is yet to be published, Allwyn reported that the £450m transformation “satisfies the UKGC as the requirements for Fully Implemented Commencement as detailed under the Enabling Agreement have been achieved”.

The National Lottery had to be temporarily shut down on several occasions so that the updates could be rolled out. In August last year, Allwyn took the lottery offline while it conducted a massive-scale retail operation to replace old lottery terminals across more than 40,000 locations nationwide.

Another major change was introduced back in January, when both the National Lottery website and its mobile apps were inaccessible for 24 hours while Allwyn made changes to the lottery’s digital front.

The update included a UX revamp, together with the critical addition of new player safety features, such as mandatory personal deposits and spending limits, as well as automated logouts every hour of playing and safer gambling messages for instant games.

On the financial side, the first year under Allwyn’s management saw sales go up to £8.1bn, which was an increase of 3.5% year-over-year. Half of that amount, a total of £4.1bn, was generated through digital channel sales.

In total, Allwyn reported that 12 million people are now playing the National Lottery digitally. Additionally, 2025 was the first time in the lottery’s history that digital sales held a bigger share than retail ones at 51%.

The UKGC also highlighted how popular the National Lottery is among UK consumers, with the latest market analysis showing that the lottery generates the second-highest GGR behind online gaming.

Lastly, Allwyn’s updates to the lottery led to more than £1.7bn generated for Good Causes in 2025 or £33m every week, with the company remaining confident that it is on the right track to achieve its goal of £60m-a-week in Good Causes contributions by the end of its licence in 2034.

Andria Vidler, Chief Executive Officer of Allwyn UK, concluded: “Allwyn is committed to restoring the magic to The National Lottery and delivering long-term growth. Being the guardian of this unique UK institution is a privilege and a responsibility we take incredibly seriously.

“We are delighted to have delivered growth to The National Lottery while successfully completing the largest international upgrade in lottery history. This is a hugely exciting time for The National Lottery and its players, as these much-needed upgrades now allow us to launch new games and products, meaning we can generate more money than ever before for Good Causes.”