Allwyn UK completes generational upgrade of National Lottery with Scientific Games
Allwyn UK has completed the biggest technology upgrade of the National Lottery since its inception in 1994.
The upgrade, undertaken between 2 and 4 August, saw the National Lottery systems taken offline for 34 hours as Allwyn UK and principal technology partner Scientific Games delivered the biggest transformation in the lottery’s 30-year history.
More than 30 new systems were rolled out including a completely rebuilt back-end gaming platform. Tech upgrades saw the migration of tens of thousands of retailer records and millions of transactions from legacy systems dating back to 2009.
Terminals came back online several hours ahead of schedule, with retail outlets resuming sales at 9:00am on Monday, followed shortly by the Lottery’s website and app. Within 10 minutes of the relaunch, nearly 1,000 tickets had been sold, rising to 118,000 within the first hour.
Allwyn has previously stated that year two of its licence — awarded in 2024 following its replacement of Camelot UK as steward of the National Lottery — would be focused on upgrading key technology systems to improve ticket sales, enhance retail facilities, and modernise operations.
Allwyn UK CEO, Andria Vidler, hailed the overhaul as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver The National Lottery that the UK deserves”.
“These major upgrades will allow us to deliver on our promise to bring new, exciting games; a better player experience; and our commitment to double returns to Good Causes from £30m to £60m every week by the end of the 10-year licence. We’re very grateful to players, our retail partners, and our partners, stakeholders and colleagues for their support over the weekend.”
A National Lottery for Modern audiences
The update saw 8,000 retailers equipped with new Wave terminals, which speed up transactions and offer additional functionality. The remaining outlets are running upgraded software on older Altura terminals until their Wave replacements arrive in the coming months.
Allwyn has prepared for minor disruption to some legacy terminals and is providing support through thousands of direct retailer contacts, on-site engineers, and increased hotline staffing — tripling capacity on Sunday and quadrupling it this week.
Allwyn International has further noted that these upgrades are critical to improving the commercial viability of the National Lottery, which it does not expect to become profit-effective for its business until the transformation programme is complete.
The firm has also noted some ‘teething problems’ with the upgrade, however, which as noted above was the most significant upgrade to the National Lottery infrastructure since the 1990s.
“Everything is taking longer, the machine by itself and because of us trying to decode the screen, it’s an absolute nightmare” a retailer told media outlet Better Retailing. “We’re sending customers back because when we’re busy, I’d rather not do any lottery transactions.”
Other retailers were pleased with the upgrades, however, with the system for processing Lucky Dips cited as one particular example. Allwyn has also observed that many of the National Lottery terminals across the UK pre-dated many of the digital technologies now used on a daily basis by consumers.
Scientific Games will continue to support Allwyn strategic visions with more visible updates and innovations coming soon, including new games and improved player experiences, with details to be shared in advance with players, retailers and partners.
Patrick McHugh, CEO of Scientific Games, said: “Congratulations to our partner Allwyn and all involved with The National Lottery’s hugely successful conversion this week in the UK. Not only is this the largest and most complex lottery conversion in the industry’s history, but it was also the smoothest transition I have ever witnessed in the industry.
“The new systems and state-of-the-art terminals mark the next phase of a new, modernised National Lottery that will provide critical funding for Good Causes across the UK.
“The complexity was enormous, with the migration to a new gaming system, dozens of related business enterprise systems across multiple suppliers, and the simultaneous upgrade of over 40,000 retailer terminals across the entire UK network.”
__
September 15 will see SBC organise a groundbreaking charity football event in Lisbon. Make sure you get the chance to see some of the most legendary names in football by securing your ticket today at https://www.legendscharitygame.com/
No Comments