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Allwyn UK Restructures Executive Team for Lottery Growth
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Allwyn UK announced an executive-team restructuring on November 5, 2026, creating digital, marketing and social-impact roles while ending three existing positions. The structure takes effect on December 1, 2026, as the National Lottery operator seeks stronger growth, increased returns for Good Causes and better experiences for players and retail partners.
The changes bring commercial, customer and technology capabilities closer together around Allwyn’s Retail and Digital channels while elevating marketing across the business. Allwyn UK describes the transformation work already delivered as the biggest modernisation of The National Lottery since its launch in 1994, positioning this reorganisation as the next stage of that programme.
CEO Phil Walker explained the intended operating change:
“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.”
Technology and Strategy Roles End
The Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director, Digital roles will end as technology capabilities become more directly integrated into Digital, Retail and Security. Responsibility for strategy and the company’s future direction moves to Walker, ending the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer role.
Current Chief Technology Officer Mark Smith will leave the business but continue as Technology Strategy Adviser until June 2027, providing continuity while the structure is established. Richard Dawkins, Managing Director, Digital, will leave in December 2026 after nearly three years, while Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer Sarah Venning will depart at the end of November 2026.
Allwyn UK credited Dawkins with leading Digital through significant change and driving games-portfolio innovation, and Venning with helping shape company strategy and lead its transformation. Walker acknowledged the effect on people who had helped the business reach this stage and thanked the departing executives and their teams for their contributions.
New Roles Combine Commercial and Customer Duties
The new Chief Digital Officer role combines digital products and channels, customer experience, technology, data and platforms, automation and AI with accountability for the commercial performance of Allwyn’s digital channels. That gives one executive responsibility for both the capabilities behind the digital operation and its commercial results.
The new Chief Marketing Officer role brings together Brand, Marketing, Creative, CRM, Communications, Product Marketing, Winners’ Services and Customer Experience to create a stronger, more consistent connection with players. Stephen Taylor joins as interim Chief Marketing Officer on November 17, 2026, from CMO Thrive, the strategic marketing advisory business he founded. He brings more than 30 years of marketing experience across consumer brands including PayPal, Samsung, Nokia and Pizza Express.
Current Chief Impact Officer Alastair Ruxton becomes Director of Social Impact, reporting to the CEO. His remit focuses on Good Causes, social value and The National Lottery’s wider proposition, communicating its positive impact on UK communities. The dedicated role is intended to strengthen the connection between playing and supporting Good Causes, giving people more compelling reasons to play and linking social-impact communications directly to the growth objective.
The reorganisation gives integrated channel teams and the new marketing and social-impact roles responsibility for delivering the next phase, while Walker takes direct control of strategy. Its central test is whether that clearer accountability can turn the completed modernisation into the growth, improved experiences and increased Good Causes returns Allwyn UK has set out.
