Between October and December 2025, the National Lottery, operated by Allwyn UK, was able to grant £410.8m ($562.8m) to good causes, the lowest amount mustered since the final three months of 2023.
This period makes up Q3 for the National Lottery, and new Gambling Commission data shows that there has been a £50.1m (10.9%) drop-off in contributions from Q2.
When compared to the same quarter in the 24/25 fiscal year, that drop-off amounts to a £24.6m (5.7%) decrease.
Continued decline in sales of Scratchcards and particularly EuroMillions seems to be the primary culprit for the shrinking contributions.
Sales of EuroMillions are down by £37.4m on Q3 24/25, with Scratchcard revenue down by £22.6m.
Though they are not comprehensive counterbalances, the disappointing figures are partially offset by increases in the Interactive Instant Win Game and Lotto segments, which saw a combined rise in sales of £17.9m year-on-year.
Allwyn UK took over the National Lottery licence in February 2024 and its performance has been under scrutiny in recent months.
The Gambling Commission and Allwyn each faced criticism for the way the bidding process was managed, with previous licence holders Camelot and media mogul Richard Desmond both initially disputing Allwyn’s victory.
Allwyn went on to acquire Camelot, while Desmond’s case is currently being litigated in the High Court.
During the tender process, the new operator pledged that it would increase the amount that the National Lottery contributed to good causes to £38bn over the course of its 10-year licence.
The company later amended this pledge to an effective figure of around £31bn.
Projecting an extrapolated sum total from all the quarterly reports released under Allwyn’s oversight results in a figure that is remarkably close to the amount contributed by Camelot during its final 10-year stint (£17.9bn).
A mitigating factor may be that Allwyn committed a lot of resources to mass technological upgrades during 2025, and though this overhaul is now complete, it may not yet have started to bear fruit.
When reports of an overspend emerged regarding these transformations at the end of 2025, a spokesperson told Global Gaming Insider: “Our transformation of The National Lottery will gather momentum in 2026, enabling us to deliver on our plans to offer more engaging ways to play and to raise more money for good causes. We remain confident of our goal of doubling funding for good causes to £60m a week by the end of our licence period."
That momentum is yet to materialise, though there is still plenty of 2026 left for it to do so.
Between Q2 24/25 and Q1 25/26, Allwyn UK oversaw four quarters of consecutive sales growth for the National Lottery – that growth corresponded with increasing good cause contributions
