New leadership and responsibilities announced at Allwyn UK

Allwyn UK is initiating major changes to its leadership structure with a particular emphasis on how it manages the technology side of its business. The restructuring comes amid a change in Chief Executive Officer at the company, the UK division of Allwyn International and operator of the UK National Lottery since February 2034. Three new positions are being created – Director of Social Impact, Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Digital Officer. Two of these three roles have already been filled, with Chief Impact Officer, Alastair Ruxton, taking on the role of Director of Social Impact. Phill Walker, Interim CEO of Allwyn UK – Source: Allwyn UK Stephen Taylor, founder of strategic marketing advisory business CMO Thrive, will take on the CMO role on an interim basis from 17 November 2026. The new CDO is yet to be filled. Phil Walker, who replaced three-year CEO Adriana Vidler as interim CEO of Allwyn UK in September, will also take on the responsibilities of Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer (CSTO), one of three roles being phased out. “The transformation of The National Lottery has involved an enormous amount of work across our business,” Walker remarked. “Our challenge now is to turn that transformation into stronger growth, a better experience for players and retail partners, and more money for Good Causes. “That means putting customers closer to our decisions, giving our Retail and Digital businesses the capabilities they need to compete and innovate, and creating much clearer accountability for performance.” Allwyn UK expand CEO functions The restructuring sees three c-level positions phased out: Chief Technology Officer, Managing Director – Digital, and the aforementioned Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer. Allwyn UK plans to integrate these technology-facing roles into an all-encompassing Digital, Retail and Security division, overseen by Walker as CEO. Mark Smith (CTO), Richard Dawkins (MD – Digital) and Sarah Venning (CSTO), will all leave Allwyn UK, with the latter two vacating in December and November respectively. Smith will continue to work with the firm as Technology Strategy Advisory until June 2027. This is not a permanent downsizing of Allwyn UK, however, due to the abovementioned new roles of Director of Social Impact, CMO and CDO being created. As Director of Social Impact, Ruxton’s responsibilities will be to connect Allwyn UK’s mission of generating funds for good causes as National Lottery operator with other corporate missions. This includes connecting the objective to Allwyn’s wider social value objectives and the National Lottery’s wider product portfolio. This is an important consideration the firm’s performance will be weighed against when the National Lottery licence comes up for renewal in 2034. Allwyn UK has set itself the target of doubling weekly returns to good causes from £30m to £60m a week by 2034. Achieving this target could be critical to whether or not the firm is successful in a bid to remain National Lottery operator. To revamp the National Lottery and drive ticket sales, which in turn generate good causes revenue, Allwyn has embarked on a huge upgrade of retail terminals – though this was a contractual obligation under its Gambling Commission licence – and has launched the popular US lottery format Powerball in the UK for the first time. “Good Causes are at the heart of what makes The National Lottery special,” Walker added. We have a real opportunity to help more people understand the extraordinary difference players make through The National Lottery and make that an even stronger reason to play. “Changes of this scale inevitably affect people who have played important roles in getting us to where we are today. This next stage builds on what they have helped us achieve, and I want to thank them personally for the contribution they and their teams have made to The National Lottery.”