Allwyn has completed a £450 million programme to overhaul the UK National Lottery’s technology, transferring 18 million stored player records and more than three billion past transactions to new platforms, according to LBC and Yahoo Finance UK. The company told investors the migration marks an “important inflection point” for the British arm and clears the way for the largest redesign of Lotto since 1994 and a UK-specific Powerball game. The overhaul’s expense and operational disruption contributed to a 7% fall in UK gross gaming revenue to €942 million (£814.2 million) in the first quarter of 2026.
Why UK revenue dipped in Q1
Allwyn’s UK gross gaming revenue dropped 7% to €942 million in the three months to the end of March 2026. UK underlying earnings shrank to €4 million from €9 million a year earlier. The group said a weaker comparison period was partly responsible, because the previous year’s demand had been lifted by a record EuroMillions jackpot. Spending related to changes on the online platform after the technology overhaul also weighed on the result, the company added.
What the £450m upgrade covered
The first-quarter work ended a migration programme that Allwyn had previously valued at £450 million. It involved relocating records for 18 million players and a backlog of more than three billion transactions onto modern platforms. The project also included refreshes of the lottery’s website and mobile apps, along with upgrades to the systems available to retail partners. The operator said completing that work allows it to introduce new commercial options in the UK, stops further transformation-related costs and begins a phase of recovery for those outlays.
Planned Lotto changes and UK Powerball
Allwyn said the new infrastructure had made possible the most extensive redesign of its draw-based Lotto game since that game began in 1994. The company also said it was preparing the first UK-specific version of Powerball, which it described as the first entirely new draw-based game to be added to the National Lottery.
Under the revised Lotto, a £2 ticket was set to give players two chances to win in the main draw for the first time. The new format was scheduled to begin on 7 June 2026. Allwyn forecast that the number of Lotto millionaires would rise from about 140 each year to roughly 345.
The Powerball launch was planned for later in the summer. Players would pay £4 per line to take part in the world’s largest jackpot game alongside American entrants, according to Allwyn. The operator added that it continued to work on the development and regulatory approval of further product innovations.
Wider Allwyn performance and merger context
While the UK business bore the cost of the upgrade, Allwyn’s wider group reported a 24% increase in underlying earnings to €443 million for the first quarter, helped by a 21% rise in net sales. The company recently combined with Greek operator OPAP, creating a global listed gaming group with an indicated value of about €16 billion. Chief executive Robert Chvatal said the quarter had brought together “two fantastic businesses” to form a scaled global gaming entertainment leader. The enlarged group kept OPAP’s Athens listing and has said it wants to add a listing in either London or New York.
What this means for the British market
Allwyn’s UK arm has run the National Lottery under a 10-year licence since taking over from Camelot in 2024. By finishing the migration, it has removed a substantial operational barrier and gained the systems needed to introduce new draw games and adjust existing ones. The first-quarter announcement did not show results from the Lotto revamp or the Powerball launch, which were still scheduled to begin later, so the commercial effect of those products was not yet known.
