A major modernisation of the UK National Lottery has led to a financial sinkhole in Allwyn’s domestic operations, but the company nevertheless expects to return to growth now that the heavy lifting is over.

Allwyn’s preliminary, unaudited results for the three months ending March 2026 have revealed that its UK business has carried out the biggest capital expenditure (CAPEX) spending out of the whole group’s international portfolio.

Allwyn puts it all on the UK

As soon as it took over the fourth operating licence of the UK National Lottery in 2024, Allwyn has committed to what it calls “the biggest transformation of the lottery” since its inception in 1994.

The first major phase was rolled out in August 2025, when a large number of lottery partner retail shops across the UK were fitted with brand new customer terminals.

Phase two began this January when the company focused on revamping the digital channels of the lottery. All of this racked up more than £450m in total investments by March.

WIth the most financially taxing part of the transformation now completed, CAPEX came down 44% YoY to €18m from the €32m at the start of last year. 

The migration of customer accounts and the temporary shutdown of the lottery as a result of the modernisation led to a lower GGR compared to Q1 2025, down to €942m in this year’s first quarter as opposed to €1bn for the previous corresponding period.

Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA in the UK dropped 55% YoY, going down from €9m in Q1 2025 to €4m for the period ending March 2026.

“The completion of the transformation enables the rollout of new commercial initiatives in the UK, completes the incurrence of transformation-related costs, and initiates the recovery phase for these costs. It therefore marks an important inflection point in the financial profile of the business,” Allwyn added.

Global results set for a profitable year

The CAPEX difference in the UK is the starkest one in Allwyn AG’s preliminaries compared to its other geographies.

Q1 CAPEX in North America went down 10% to €10m (Q1 2025: €9m), while Continental Europe CAPEX went up 24% to €26m (Q1 2025: €21m). The latter of course indicates a financial commitment from Allwyn AG to strengthen its presence across Europe.

This push towards a European commercial expansion was first and foremost supplemented by Allwyn’s recent merger with Greek gambling conglomerate OPAP this March to create the second-largest listed lottery company in the world.

Continental Europe GGR came in at €1.18bn for the first quarter of 2026, up 7% from €1.1bn in Q1 2025, while net revenue came in at €754m – up from €719m the previous year.

Betano, which Allwyn holds 36.75% of shares in, generated €788m in total quarterly revenue, up from €619m in Q1 2025. Dividends received by Allwyn amounted to €74m for the quarter.

Allwyn AG’s FY26 financial outlook expects net revenue growth of mid-to-high 20%s and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 37%. Reflective of its Q1 preliminary performance, the firm has launched a €150m share buyback programme.

Robert Chvatal, Allwyn Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are immensely proud of what we have achieved since the creation of Allwyn – creating a global leader in gaming entertainment with almost €2bn of Adjusted EBITDA in only 14 years – and are delighted to have achieved several key milestones in the first quarter. 

“Looking forward, we are as excited as we have ever been about the next chapters in our growth story and confident in our ability to capture the many opportunities ahead.”