– UK National Lottery operator secures prestigious European Lotteries and World Lottery Association accreditations –

– Achievement signals Allwyn’s ongoing commitment to responsible National Lottery growth, with lots of people playing a little –

Allwyn UK, operator of The National Lottery, has today announced that it has achieved the European Lotteries (EL) Responsible Gaming Certification, as well as Level 4 of the World Lottery Association’s (WLA) Responsible Gaming Framework – the highest possible level.

The responsible gaming accreditations from these leading industry bodies help ensure that members of these organisations – like Allwyn and other lottery operators worldwide – operate their licensed lotteries with the highest standards of player protection and safety. They also reflect how successfully a lottery has implemented responsible play into its day-to-day operations.

These industry-standard certifications demonstrate Allwyn’s firm commitment to participant protection – with a continuous programme of work to prevent underage and excessive play from the outset.  

Since taking over as National Lottery operator in February 2024, Allwyn has already made huge strides in this area. For example, its 43,500 retail partners now adhere to ‘Challenge 25’ – a scheme where they’re trained to challenge every potential National Lottery customer who looks under the age of 25.  

With last May’s launch of Operation Guardian – an expanded mystery shopper and knowledge-check programme – Allwyn further increased the level of support for retailers, enabling them to sell National Lottery products even more responsibly safely.

As part of this, Allwyn organised over 8,200 mystery shopper visits in 2024 to check retailers were challenging players who appeared under the age of 18. The final results showed that a record-breaking 92.3% of National Lottery retailers correctly asked for ID as proof of age on their first visit by a mystery shopper.  

In October, Allwyn continued its rigorous multi-layered player protection programme of work by introducing a new pioneering 10 Scratchcard per transaction limit – making it one of the first lotteries in the world to bring in such a threshold. The company also became a Level 2 member of the National Council of Problem Gambling’s Gift Responsibly Campaign.

2024 also saw Allwyn introduce a QR code for instant access to information on support on in-store media screens, as well as put in place enhanced retailer training to prevent underage and excessive play via a new digital National Lottery Retail Training Centre.

Allwyn also has rigorous safeguards in place to encourage responsible play for its 11.1 million active registered online National Lottery players. This includes a wide range of online responsible play tools and communications, as well as personalised interactions with the very small proportion of players who show signs of being at risk of potential problem play.

Allwyn’s CEO, Andria Vidler, said: “Just over a year on from taking over as The National Lottery operator, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve achieved these important EL and WLA Responsible Gaming Certifications.  

“National Lottery games are specially designed to be safe and secure, ensuring they don’t appeal to underage or vulnerable players. However, with over 30 million people routinely playing National Lottery games – raising over £30 million a week for Good Causes in the process – it’s crucial that we continue to do everything we can to prevent underage and excessive play.

“So, it’s great to have this external recognition of what we’ve achieved so far, but we also know that our work in this area is never finished. We plan to continue working hard on our responsible play credentials and driving up our own high standards, keeping National Lottery players at the heart of everything we do.”