A record haul from EuroMillions jackpot draws has helped The National Lottery operator notch up a sales surge in the UK.
Czech-based Allwyn – which took over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from Camelot in February last year – reported a 14% jump in UK underlying constant currency sales for the three months to the end of June.
Sales lifted 7% on a reported basis, helping UK underlying earnings lift 20% to six million euros (£5.2 million).
The National Lottery sold 18,600 tickets a minute on June 6 at the peak of the record £208 million EuroMillions jackpot draws.
The most recent run of EuroMillions draws lasted more than 10 weeks and generated both the highest ever UK sales of more than £550 million and the biggest ever returns to good causes in the history of the game.
The series of 21 draws – the second-longest in EuroMillions history – raised £190 million for good causes.
They started on April 8 and ended on June 17 when a single winner in Ireland scooped the £208 million jackpot.
Allwyn said online instant-win games also saw strong growth in the quarter, thanks to new launches and as the mammoth EuroMillions jackpots boosted interest in games more widely.
Over the half-year as a whole, UK underlying earnings fell more than a third, down 35% at 15 million euros (£13 million) despite revenues lifting 7% to 2.11 billion euros (£1.83 billion).
The National Lottery recently hailed the biggest technology upgrade in its 31-year history.
Allwyn paused sales and payouts in shops for around 36 hours to make way for the overhaul over the first weekend in August, while The National Lottery website and app were also down over the same period.
During the pause, Allwyn transferred and upgraded The National Lottery’s gaming and retail systems to new platforms.
The new Wave lottery in-store terminals will help speed up transactions for players and retailers alike, while also paving the way for new lottery-based games, according to Allwyn.
Robert Chvatal, chief executive of Allwyn, said: “We are delighted to have reached a key milestone in our strategy to transform The National Lottery in the UK, successfully bringing over 30 new systems online, including transitioning to a new central lottery system, as well as activating new terminals for around 8,000 retail partners.
“This was one of the largest lottery transitions ever delivered.”
Allwyn said at the time of the refresh that the systems and in-store terminals powering The National Lottery dated back to 2009, “before iPads, Uber and Instagram”, which now needed to be modernised to deliver on “ambitious” plans for a National Lottery “fit for the future”.
The switchover had 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 would hold back the amount of money it could 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.
Figures showed the wider Allwyn business, which runs lotteries across Europe, delivered a 6% rise in underlying earnings to 362 million euros (£314 million) as total revenues rose 6% to 2.27 billion euros (£1.97 billion) in its second quarter.
