National Audit Office opens probe into National Lottery under Allwyn

The National Audit Office has launched an investigation into The National Lottery, examining whether the product is meeting its commitments to good causes, EGR reported.

The probe centres on Allwyn, which took over as operator in 2024 after the Gambling Commission awarded it the fourth National Lottery licence in 2022. The company beat former licensee Camelot and other rivals to the contract, which runs until 2034. It marked the first change of operator since the lottery began in 1994.

Allwyn's winning bid included a pledge to donate £38bn to good causes over the ten-year licence period, equivalent to £3.8bn a year. That target was later revised down to £3.2bn a year, even as Allwyn said it intended to double weekly charitable contributions from £30m to £60m.

Figures published by the Gambling Commission showed contributions to good causes totalled £1.7bn in 2025, less than half of Allwyn's original annual target. A further release from the regulator in August showed contributions of £377.2m between April and June this year, the lowest quarterly figure from The National Lottery in nearly a decade.

The NAO, the UK's independent public spending watchdog, said its study would examine whether the Gambling Commission had "designed, implemented and overseen the fourth National Lottery licence effectively to maximise returns to good causes and deliver long-term public value".

It added that the work would also assess whether the Gambling Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport had properly awarded the licence, overseen the handover to Allwyn, and applied lessons from the process to the remainder of the contract and to future lottery licensing decisions.

The Gambling Commission said it welcomed the scrutiny. "We welcome the NAO's study of the fourth National Lottery licence as part of its routine scrutiny of major public programmes, and will support it fully," the regulator said, adding that it was for the NAO to determine the scope and findings of the review and that it would not be appropriate to comment further while the work was under way.

Allwyn has pointed to investment and new products as evidence of its commitment to the licence. The operator completed a major technology overhaul of The National Lottery in January, part of a £400m investment in the brand, and launched a Powerball game in July 2026 that it said would generate an extra £1bn for good causes over five years. Last month the government opened a consultation on barring third-party operators from offering betting on the Powerball product.

The licence award has already withstood one legal challenge. Richard Desmond, owner of rival bidder The New Lottery Company, took the Gambling Commission to court over the decision in June 2024. The High Court sided with the regulator in April 2025, and Desmond's subsequent appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal in July, which upheld the High Court's original ruling.

EGR said it had contacted Allwyn for comment on the NAO investigation.