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The UK National Lottery is taking its app and website offline late Saturday as Allwyn rolls out a major digital update, one that adds new safety tools and changes how some players will fund and manage play.
The outage is scheduled to start at 11pm on Saturday, January 24, after the night’s draws, and run until the end of Sunday, January 25. During that window, players won’t be able to log in, buy draw tickets, or play Instant Win games online. Any prizes won online also won’t show up to view or claim until the platform comes back.
The Lotto and Thunderball draws will still go ahead at 8pm on Saturday. And for anyone who still wants to play while the digital doors are closed, retail stays open: tickets and Scratchcards can still be bought in shops, and in-store prizes can still be claimed at retailers (typically up to £100, or up to £500 if the retailer chooses). Online-bought tickets, though, can’t be claimed in-store.
Allwyn rolls out new safety tools and changes how some players will fund and manage play
Allwyn and the National Lottery say this is the biggest step forward for the digital platform in years, with upgrades aimed at smoother payments and simpler results and prize journeys, but the main target is for a better player protection package.
According to the update details, new customers will be put onto mandatory personal deposit and spend limits, while online play will also introduce automatic logouts after 60 minutes, plus a 10-minute cool-down period, and “reality checks” during Instant Win sessions.
Allwyn CEO Andria Vidler tied the upgrade to the operator’s wider plan for the Lottery, saying: “These much-needed digital upgrades mark another milestone in our transformation to make The National Lottery more player-focused, with new games, more winners, and greater support for Good Causes.” She added that Allwyn is working toward “our ambitious goal to double weekly returns to Good Causes from £30 million a week at the start of the licence to £60 million by 2034.”
Players win will be available after the update finishes
For players, if you usually buy tickets or play Instant Wins through the app, you’ll need to do it before 11pm Saturday or switch to retail until the system returns late Sunday. And if you hit a win during the blackout, it’s not gone; you’ll just be waiting until the update finishes before you can see it in your account.
Source: Echo
