Thank you for ongoing support and hard work: Allwyn
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
It’s time to start the countdown to this year’s Neighbourhood Retailer Awards! We are delighted to begin sharing our wonderful sponsors in our special feature, Sponsor Spotlight. To get us underway, we find out more about our Platinum Sponsor, Allwyn, who is also sponsoring the Community Store of the Year award, from Bridget Lea, Managing Director – Retail.
On behalf of everyone at Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, we are delighted to be the overall sponsor for the prestigious Neighbourhood Retailer Awards. Recognising and celebrating the fantastic achievements of passionate retailers across Northern Ireland is something we are honoured to support.
Having recently joined Allwyn at such an exciting time, following the successful transformation of our retail estate, I’m thrilled to be working closely with our dedicated National Lottery retail partners as we take the next steps of our journey.
Allwyn has completed the biggest transformation in The National Lottery’s history, investing £450m to strengthen future growth. As a result, we are now able to drive excitement through innovation and new games.
As we look to the future, it’s important to reflect on the achievements delivered since the launch more than 30 years ago. The impact is seen not only in the millions of winners awarded over £103bn in prizes, including more than 8,000 millionaires, but also in the £53bn raised for National Lottery Good Causes.
This includes over 680,000 projects — from sports grounds to historic buildings, community groups to arts institutions and environmental causes. Most people in the UK will have benefited from a National Lottery-funded project, which is something we can all be proud of.
In Northern Ireland alone, more than £1.6bn has been awarded to Good Causes as of 31st March 2026, supporting over 36,000 projects that benefit local communities.
With strong foundations now in place to help return the magic and drive more players into stores, we are committed to building on this success and generating even more for Good Causes.
Kick-starting our plans are changes to Lotto and Lotto HotPicks. Subject to final regulatory approval, from 7th June, players will get two chances to win on each line played – all for the same price and the same number of balls to choose from – with a new two-round format in every draw. The game is expected to generate millions of pounds in weekly sales, and along with the introduction of new Guaranteed Millionaire events, it will more than double the number of millionaires made over the course of a year.
We have also launched a UK-specific version of Powerball this summer, bringing the world’s biggest rolling jackpot game outside the USA for the first time. At £4 a line, customers can play alongside the game’s US 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 its first five years.
Finally, a heartfelt thank you to all National Lottery retailers for your continued support in helping raise over £33m a week for Good Causes. By working together, we can make this year a success for everyone.
We look forward to celebrating with you at the Awards.
