A major technological switchover is set to take place over summer
People who play in National Lottery games are being warned of a 36-hour outage set to take place over summer.
National Lottery operator Allwyn is preparing to press the button on a long-delayed technology upgrade this summer that will stop retail terminals from working for 36 hours.
Allwyn, who took over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from Camelot in February 2024, has warned retailers it will need to carry out the tech switchover “one weekend” over the summer months.
While a date has not been confirmed, this tech switchover will mean that retail point-of-sale terminals will not be able to take ticket sales for around 36 hours.
It is believed that Allwyn is looking to minimise disruption by timing the upgrade to start at around 11pm on a Saturday night, with the National Lottery not trading overnight and no draw-based games on a Sunday.
While the date has not yet been revealed, Allwyn’s UK chief executive Andria Vidler has told retailers it will “tie in best with our retail partners”. She has written to them asking for their “help and diligence to enable a seamless transition”.
The upgrade has been beset by delays after Allwyn took over the licence, which has held back the launch of new draw-based games.
It was unable to switch to a new technology provider after agreeing to extend the contract for the existing supplier, International Games Technology (IGT).
IGT had challenged the Gambling Commission’s decision to award Allwyn the 10-year licence in court, but later dropped the legal action.
Allwyn has previously admitted that delays to the new games it had hoped to introduce in 2024 will hold back the amount of money it can give to good causes in the early part of its 10-year licence.
But the group remained committed to its long-term goal to double money for good causes, despite falling short of early targets.
Allwyn said: “Allwyn is investing over £350 million into improving the operations and technology of The National Lottery.
“This change is critical – it will give us the springboard from which we can continue to improve the player and retailer experience and enable us deliver on our ambitious plans to double returns to Good Causes from £30 million to £60 million a week by the end of the licence.”
The largest National Lottery prize ever is set to be drawn on Friday, June 6, when the EuroMillions jackpot will sit at a staggering £208 million.
It comes after no player scooped the £199m jackpot in the previous draw on Tuesday, June 3.
