The National Lottery is poised to roll out a new draw game within weeks, following a £450 million technology upgrade and attracting one million new online players, aiming to modernise its offerings.
Operator Allwyn confirmed the major IT overhaul's completion, migrating 18 million player records and three billion historical transactions.
The upgrade also transformed retail partner technology, with a 24-hour website and app outage in January.
This investment in digital systems is expected to facilitate new game launches and attract more participants.
Crucially, new player protections are now implemented, including mandatory personal deposit and spend limits, automatic logouts after 60 minutes with a 10-minute cooling-off period, and regular 20-minute "reality checks" for instant game players.
Allwyn took over the 10-year licence to run the National Lottery in 2024 from Camelot, which had operated the draw since its launch in 1994.
New figures from Allywn show a record number of people are playing National Lottery games online, leading the operator to tot up a 10% rise in digital sales last year.
The lottery firm generated digital sales worth £4.1 billion in 2025, up 9.8% on the previous year.
Some 12.1 million people were playing the National Lottery on digital platforms, including the website and app, a million more than the year before.
People can play draw games online including the Lotto and the EuroMillions as well as instant games with the chance to win prizes.
Total sales, including lottery tickets bought in shops, came in at £8.1 billion in 2025, up 3.5% on the previous year.
More than £1.7 billion was generated for what it calls ‘good causes’ – which incorporates funding for health, education, arts, sports heritage and charitable causes – and £967 million was raised in taxes.
Andria Vidler, the chief executive of Allwyn UK, said: “We are delighted to have delivered growth to the National Lottery while successfully completing the largest international upgrade in lottery history.
“This is a hugely exciting time for the National Lottery and its players, as these much-needed upgrades now allow us to launch new games and products, meaning we can generate more money than ever before for good causes.”
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