Allwyn UK has given an update on preparations for taking over the National Lottery licence, reassuring retailers that they will be a major focus.
Speaking at the National Convenience Show, Allwyn retail director Katharine Challinor provided an update on the work being done for the fourth National Lottery licence. “Our plan is to grow the National Lottery responsibly, making it bigger, better and safer for all, and retail is at the heart of it. We want to be a true partner to retailers, empowering them to drive sales of the National Lottery, in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.”
Allwyn UK will take over the running of the National Lottery from February 2024, succeeding Camelot which ran it since 1994.
Addressing concerns over a move to digital, Challinor said that “retail is absolutely at the heart of Allwyn’s plans”.
“We see the different channels of sales as being very complementary and there being an opportunity to invest in digital in retail,” she said. “Our priority is to try and give the customer the player the best possible experience, and also give the retailer the best possible experience. For us, our new digital technology and access to data means that we’ll be able to equip retailers and our field teams, and all our teams with with more granular data and more information to help them really understand their customers and unlock those opportunities to grow sales on a site by site basis.
“Digital is very much going to be an enabler in that, that that context. And similarly, digital also opens up the opportunity to create a more frictionless customer experience in store, and also to simplify the operation wherever possible. So we see it as a massive enabler but we are also very, very committed to growing sales in bricks and mortar retailers.”
Challinor said that retailers will be focused on as part of Allwyn’s plans for growing the National Lottery.
“We believe that having strong retail partnerships is really critical. And it is about listening and developing really collaborative relationships with retailers, and I think together we can really unlock that growth.
“What we want to do is help retailers to bring back those players that have stopped playing the National Lottery over the years, and also those players that maybe have never even thought about playing the National Lottery. And we think there’s lots of headroom for growth. And what we want to do is really enable our retailers to help them help players fall back in love with the National Lottery.”
She explained that Allwyn UK is looking at what National Lottery equipment is in the market as part of its preparations. “We are currently preparing for the Fourth Licence starting in 2024, which includes conducting a detailed survey of all National Lottery retail stockists to assess current lottery equipment. This survey marks a major milestone on the journey to the Fourth Licence.
“This survey is a visit to every retailer across the UK that sells the National Lottery. We’re going to be looking at what equipment they’ve got in store, where it’s located, what condition it’s in. And we’re going to be capturing all that data so that we’ve got the right foundations for when we take over the fourth licence on the first of February next year.”
Challinor outlined the timeline for these visits. “We will give retailers around three weeks’ notice about the visit, and we will then they will go into store, look at the outside of the store, look at the inside of the store and they will also need to go behind the counter to check how things are wired to really understand how it all works. We’ll keep the time behind the counter to a minimum and they won’t need to access any of the terminal functionality. That starts in May, it’s going through to around the end of September.”
Challinor added that Allwyn has a record of successfully running National Lotteries, and that supporting retailers will be a priority.
“Allwyn has delivered growth in all its markets and this insight and experience helped shaped the plans in our proposal for the Fourth Licence. Our approach is centred on providing a great customer experience and offering strong support for retailers, enabling growth.”
Allwyn recently announced an agreement with Vodafone to upgrade its technology.
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