UK National Lotto operator Allwyn are finally delivering on their license-winning promise to transform and revitalise the nation’s lottery by doubling the chance of players becoming millionaires and introducing a U.S.- style billion pound Powerball game.
The changes to the 32-year-old National Lottery format, as first pioneered by long-time operator Camelot, were announced by Czech Republic-owned Allwyn yesterday, and follow the company’s major technical update of betting terminals and retail outlet deals since they were awarded Europe’s biggest betting prize in controversial circumstances in September 2022 and began operating the prize competitions in February 2024.
Battling allegations of close financial and political ties to Russia’s proscribed maximum leader Vladimir Putin, with illegal backing from Kremlin bank loans, it’s been a rocky ride for Allwyn, whose ultimate majority owner is Czech billionaire Karel Komárek of the KKCG investment group.
KKCG, built on the wealth of Komarek’s energy dealing, which once had a joint venture with Russia’s Gazprom, rebranded its Sazka Group affiliate to Allwyn in 2019, which now serves as a multinational core lottery entertainment company with headquarters in Switzerland, owning a string of lotteries in Greece/Cyprus (OPAP), the Illinois Lottery in the USA, and lottos in Austria and Italy, as well as the UK Lottery.
Prizewashing
This week’s announcement of the major UK lottery prizes boost will go a long way to quietening the ongoing background noise surrounding Allwyn’s ultimate suitability to run the nation’s top prize draw.
“From 7 June, every £2 Lotto line will give players two chances to win – all for the same price and with the same number of balls to choose from, with a new two-round format every draw,” Allwyn announced in a statement.
“The change improves players’ chances of winning any prize from 1-in-9.3 to 1-in-4.9 and is expected to more than double the number of Lotto millionaires from around 140 a year to around 345.”
And in perhaps the biggest news of the day, Allwyn also announced their UK version of the storied U.S. Powerball draw, which offers a billion dollars as its top prize.
Mega Billion
Allwyn said Powerball will be coming to Britain “this summer”.
“This will see UK players playing alongside their U.S. counterparts for a chance to win the mega, shared jackpot – which will be paid out over 30-years to UK jackpot winners.
“The game is expected to deliver around £1bn more to UK Good Causes over the first five-years, with over 30 percent of the ticket price returned to UK Good Causes.”
“We are delivering on our promise to bring more games, more entertainment and more innovation to The National Lottery,” affirmed Allwyn CEO, Andria Vidler.
“With extensive upgrades to our digital and retail channels now complete, we have a fantastic summer lined up, as we are now able to bring these exciting new games to our players.
“We’re certain that our UK-specific version of the iconic Powerball game will really capture the UK public’s imagination.”
Allwyn say tickets for new Lotto will go on sale from Sunday June 7, with the first draw taking place on Wednesday June 10.
More Millionaires
The Lotto draws will continue to take place at around 8pm every Saturday and Wednesday.
A new two-round structure will see two sets of six main balls and a Bonus Ball drawn using two separate draw machines. This means a player could win in Round 1, Round 2, or both rounds, all from a single Lotto line.
As with the current format, Lotto jackpots will begin at £2m and can roll over up to five times before a must-be-won event on the sixth consecutive draw.
Players will still win a prize when they match two or more main numbers.
And there are two ways to become a millionaire on the game – through a guaranteed £1m-plus jackpot for matching six main numbers, and a £1m fixed prize for anyone matching five main numbers plus the Bonus Ball.
The jackpot will be shared across both rounds, while all other prize tiers will continue to offer fixed cash prizes, paid per round. In addition, the Lotto HotPicks add-on game will also move to the new two-round format, and will continue to be priced at £1, say Allwyn.
The exact date of the first Powerball draw has yet to be fixed.
