Allwyn, the operator of The National Lottery, has thanked its 43,500 retail partners for their continued support and assistance, as it takes the next major step in its wide-ranging National Lottery transformation plan.

The National Lottery will undergo its biggest technology upgrade since 1994, transforming core gaming and retail systems. This will involve launching new terminal software and moving systems to new platforms, as well as a number of other crucial back-end tech upgrades. The upgrades also include the delivery of 30+ new systems and complex data migrations, including the transfer of tens of thousands of retailer records and millions of transactions.

The technology updates will take place from 2-4 August, taking National Lottery services offline from 11pm on Saturday until late Monday morning. Following Saturday night’s Lotto and Thunderball draws, The National Lottery website/app and retail lottery terminals will shut down at 11pm, preventing players from logging into their online accounts, buying draw tickets or claiming prizes – in-store or online – until Monday.

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Over the next 10 days, there are several activities to deliver before gaining final approval for this date. This includes final testing and helping retailers to understand how to use new National Lottery systems.

Players will still be able to check results until systems go offline on Saturday and will still be able to buy Scratchcards in 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.

Once services come back online on Monday, around 8000 National Lottery retailers will switch over to new state-of-the-art lottery Wave terminals – which have already arrived in their stores. These will allow them to process player transactions more quickly and provide them with more functionality. The remainder of National Lottery retailers will be using the new software that went live over the weekend on their existing terminal and will receive their own new Wave terminal in the coming months.

There are a number of actions that retailers should proactively take to streamline and speed up the process, including:

• Retailers should keep their terminal plugged in and powered on all weekend, to allow critical software updates to take place

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• All stores should activate sufficient Scratchcard stock to keep dispensers full until Monday

• Retailers can sign onto their terminal before 10am on Sunday morning to access their weekly invoice, but after they’ve done that, they should put the terminal cover (found in the support pack which will be sent to them) in place to prevent anyone from accessing the terminal

• On Monday, the way that all retailers sign-on to their terminal will change, so they should make sure they have their new sign-on details to hand (again, these can be found in their support pack).

Allwyn is providing retailers with customer-facing point of sale materials to keep players informed about the upgrade and distributing comprehensive support packs to the 43,500-strong estate.

It’s expected that a small proportion of legacy in-store terminals may experience delays coming back up on Monday if certain upgrade processes were interrupted for various reasons. Most retailers who follow the guidance in their 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.

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Allwyn’s Director of Operations, Jenny Blogg, said: “These critical tech upgrades follow on from our continuous progress in modernising The National Lottery, which hasn’t had a major refresh since 2009. This includes introducing a fresh new look in our 43,500 retail partners with new stands, dispensers and signage, as well as rolling out state-of-the-art lottery terminals and a new in-store network provided by Vodafone.

“We’re very grateful for our retail partners’ continued support through these latest upgrades. We’ve been working hard to make sure retailers can get back up and running as quickly as possible after the weekend, so it’s really important that they follow the instructions in their support pack. While these significant updates will mean short-term disruption for players and our retail partners, they will allow us to deliver on our promise to bring new, exciting games to The National Lottery; 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.”

Scientific Games will continue to bring exciting instant scratchcard games to Polish National Lottery players through a new agreement with Totalizator Sportowy. Celebrating the instant lottery’s 25th anniversary last year, Totalizator Sportowy is among the top five performing instant game lotteries in Europe (La Fleur’s 2025 World Lottery Almanac). The world’s largest lottery games company has provided scratchcards to Totalizator Sportowy for more than 20 years, with scratchcard game sales in Poland growing by 20% over the past three years (2022 to 2025).

“Our goal is to give our players entertaining scratchcard experiences while responsibly generating maximum proceeds for Polish sport and culture. We are delighted to continue working with Scientific Games to offer fun, modern scratch experiences,” said Katarzyna Woznica-Borkowska, Manager of Instant Products for Totalizator Sportowy.

Most recently, Scientific Games collaborated with Totalizator Sportowy to offer Polish players the PLN30 GIGA 7 game produced with the company’s advanced Dimension technology, which enhances the play experience with three-dimensional, reflection-at-different-angle refractions above and below the game graphics.

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Currently, the company provides instant games to 110 government-regulated lotteries worldwide, including more than 50 European lotteries.

“Scientific Games is honored to continue our longtime relationship with Totalizator Sportowy that we have built across two decades,” said Paul Dures, Lottery Sales Director EMEA for Scientific Games. “We look forward to continuing our work to drive meaningful growth for the scratchcard games in Poland creating more innovative and attractive games for players.”

With products that generate more than 70% of global instant game retail sales, Scientific Games is the world’s largest instant games creator, producer and services provider, and the primary provider to nine of the Top 10 performing instant game lotteries in the world (La Fleur’s 2025 World Lottery Almanac).

• Co-investment by ZEAL and French lottery operator FDJ UNITED Ventures
• Strategic partnership drives industry innovation and growth

ZEAL Network SE, Germany’s leading provider of online lotteries, is investing in the innovative Swedish iLottery and iBingo specialist Random State, alongside FDJ UNITED Ventures, FDJ UNITED’s startup investment fund.  With this co-investment, both partners reaffirm their commitment to advancing the global lottery industry.

Random State develops modern, digital instant lottery and bingo formats characterized by creative game design and a consistent focus on user experience. Notable clients include The UAE Lottery, the first regulated lottery in the United Arab Emirates and Delta Bingo Online, the digital arm of the Canadian gambling operator Delta Bingo & Gaming.

Investment creates value for all parties

The investment will enable Random State to strategically expand its sales and marketing activities and accelerate the development of new games – supporting the company’s continued growth trajectory. ZEAL, in turn, gains not only valuable insights into new game formats and mechanics but also benefits from the commercial partnership opportunities that come with the investment. This move is part of the strategic goal of ZEAL Ventures, the venture investment department of ZEAL, to actively shape the future of lottery and infuse innovation into ZEAL’s product portfolio.

The partnership with FDJ UNITED Ventures also highlights the increasing collaboration among leading European lottery operators, united by a shared ambition to bring fresh momentum to a modern and future-ready lottery landscape.

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Driving the future of the industry together

“With Random State, we are investing into innovation in the iLottery sector,” says Juliane Gutsmiedl, Investment Manager at ZEAL Ventures. “The team impresses with creative game design and a deep understanding of diverse user preferences – providing us with valuable impulses for the development of our own portfolio.”

“Our vision is to reimagine the lottery – digital, user-centric, and globally connected,” said Mattias Westholm, CEO of Random State. “With ZEAL Ventures and FDJ UNITED Ventures, we’ve found strong, strategically-minded partners who share this ambition. This investment allows us to accelerate our innovation pipeline and expand into new markets and customer segments.”