Allwyn, the operator of The National Lottery, has announced the biggest tech upgrade to The National Lottery since it first launched in 1994.
What’s happening?
National Lottery draw game sales and all prize claims will be temporarily paused in shops across the UK from 11pm Saturday night (2 August) until late Monday morning (4 August). The National Lottery website and app will also be unavailable for the same period of time.
During this time, Allwyn will be transferring and upgrading The National Lottery’s core gaming and retail technology systems to new platforms, as well as making a number of other back-end tech improvements. This includes the delivery of over 30 new systems, as well as complex data migrations – including the transfer of tens of thousands of retailer records and millions of transactions from the old to the new systems.
Over the next few days, there are several activities to deliver before gaining final approval for this date. This includes final testing, informing players about the upgrades and helping retailers to understand how to use new National Lottery systems.
Allwyn has been supporting its retail partners with over 39,000 phone calls, emails and face-to-face rep visits – with another 20,000 follow-up calls taking place this coming Sunday. Comprehensive upgrade support packs have also been sent out to all 43,500 stores – these include customer-facing posters and table-toppers to keep in-store players informed.
What does this mean for National Lottery players?
Following Saturday night's Lotto and Thunderball draws, The National Lottery website/app and retail lottery terminals will shut down at 11pm, meaning players won’t be able to log into their online accounts, buy draw tickets or claim prizes – in-store or online – until Monday. With no National Lottery draw taking place, Sundays typically tend to be a much quieter day.
Players will still be able to check results until systems go offline and will still be able to buy Scratchcards in The National Lottery’s 43,500 partnered shops for the duration. They’ll also be able to see the latest National Lottery draws and view the full results for the Saturday draws on The National Lottery’s YouTube channel.
It’s expected that a small proportion of legacy in-store terminals may experience delays coming back up if certain upgrade processes were interrupted for various reasons. Most retailers that follow the guidance in their retailer support pack will experience a smooth return to service. To assist those who might need additional support, Allwyn has specialist teams standing by to get them back up and running as quickly as possible.
As most of this weekend’s updates are initially taking place behind the scenes, digital players can expect the same familiar National Lottery online experience. However, the new state-of-the-art lottery terminals that will be going live in stores will speed up transactions for in-store players and retailers alike. Additionally, more changes will be coming very soon, details of which will be shared with players, retailers and partners well in advance.
Why is this happening?
The legacy systems and in-store terminals powering The National Lottery date back to 2009. These now need to be modernised to deliver on Allwyn’s ambitions for a National Lottery fit for the future.Allwyn has already invested more than £350m on this vital overhaul.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver The National Lottery that the UK deserves,” Andria Vidler, Allwyn’s CEO, commented. “We’re making unprecedented and much-needed changes, which will move us closer to achieving our vision for The National Lottery, restoring its magic and significantly increasing its positive impact on lives across the UK.
“These major upgrades will mean short-term disruption for players and our retail partners but they 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.”