Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, announced that National Lottery players who play in shops will be able to opt to have their prizes paid directly into their bank accounts for the first time.

In a partnership with payments provider, Bottomline, Allwyn has created a quick, easy online claim process that will see retail prizes of between £500.01 and £50,000 paid more quickly than ever before.

The new solution is the latest development in the revised claims process that Allwyn had to introduce when it took over as National Lottery operator in 2024. This was following the Post Office’s decision to no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000 (called ‘mid-tier prizes’).

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Last year, Allwyn continued to make upgrades to the process and has now directly paid out over 45,000 mid-tier prizes to in-store players – amounting to over £50 million in prize money.

This new enhancement isn’t just good news for players, but it will also significantly reduce administration and postage costs – as Allwyn will no longer need to prepare and post thousands of cheques. This cost efficiency will see more money going to National Lottery-funded Good Causes.

With the new payment solution, retail players can go to claims.national-lottery.co.uk, enter their email address and then fill in an easy-to-complete claim form – this asks for the player’s details, some details about the winning ticket, and prompts the player to upload an image of the ticket. If a winner has any questions during the process or needs some additional support, they can call Allwyn’s Customer Care Team who will be happy to help.

At this point, the default option will be for the prize to be paid directly into the player’s bank account, although they can still choose to be paid by cheque if that is their preference – which has been standard payment method for these up until now (including when the Post Office was still paying these prizes).

Once the claim form has been submitted and processed, the player will receive an email with a unique, secure link for them to submit their bank account number and sort code. The system will then automatically check that the name on the account matches the name entered on the prize claim form. As soon as this information has been successfully submitted by the player, the payment will be processed and will be paid directly into the player’s bank account within 24 hours*.

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Allwyn’s Operations Director, Jenny Blogg, said: “We’re delighted to introduce this completely new payment solution, which will see, for the first time, people who play The National Lottery in shops be able to have their prizes paid directly into their bank accounts.

“Not only will this see these prizes paid faster than ever before, but it also drastically cuts down on administration and postage costs. This cost efficiency will see more money going to the Good Causes that The National Lottery supports and see prize money in players’ pockets in record time – so it really is a win-win.”

• From living room start-up to online market leader
• Ambitious growth targets and innovative product ideas

ZEAL Network SE, the market leader for online lotteries in Germany, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Founded in 1999 as Tipp24, the company was one of the first on the German market to bring lotteries to the internet. Since then, ZEAL has had a lasting impact on the German online lottery business. 

“We are very proud of a quarter century of ZEAL,” says Helmut Becker, CEO of ZEAL. “What began 25 years ago as a two-man start-up in Hamburg has now developed into a group of companies with more than 250 employees. We are more successful than ever in our core business of lottery brokerage and are continuously expanding our market share and our business model. In doing so, we are staying true to our motto: we define the future of lottery.”

From start-up to international group

ZEAL was founded as Tipp24 in Hamburg in 1999. The company was one of the first providers to enable participation in state lotteries in Germany via the Internet – with great success. The IPO followed in 2005. This was followed by the temporary relocation of the company headquarters to London, the change of name to ZEAL Network SE and the development of new business abroad. In 2019, the company returned to Hamburg and took over LOTTO24 AG. This made ZEAL the largest lottery broker in Germany. Today, more than 1.3 million customers play with ZEAL’s brands every month.

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“As one of the founders, I am particularly happy about ZEAL’s success story,” says Jens Schumann, co-founder of ZEAL 25 years ago and now a member of the Supervisory Board. “When we founded the company, we printed out the lottery tickets that our customers played online and handed them in at the kiosk around the corner. A lot has happened since then. Today, ZEAL is one of Germany’s leading e-commerce companies. It gives me great pleasure to have been so closely involved in its development to date.”

Continuing to grow in the core business, developing new business areas

Today, ZEAL is the market leader for online lotteries in Germany. The brokerage of participation in state and charity lotteries remains the company’s core business, which it intends to expand in the future. In addition, ZEAL is continuously developing its portfolio: in the summer, for example, the company launched the first raffle of an existing property in Germany with Traumhausverlosung (English name: Dream House Raffle). ZEAL also appeals to younger target groups in particular with the freiheit+ charity lottery. Last year, ZEAL also launched an online games offering, which has been continuously expanded since then. ZEAL also operates the online presence of the ONCE charity lottery in Spain, a public organization for the blind, and invests in industry-specific start-ups via its ventures department ZEAL Ventures.