Allwyn UK Makes Leadership Team Changes with Three Departures

Allwyn UK is restructuring its senior leadership team, as part of an effort to turn around disappointing performance since beginning its UK National Lottery license agreement with the Gambling Commission in 2024, dissolving three roles and creating two new ones.

Chief Technology Officer Mark Smith, Managing Director of Digital Richard Dawkins and Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Sarah Venning will all depart Allwyn UK. Smith will continue as Technology Strategy Adviser until June 2027 as a new structure is established, while Dawkins will leave in December and Venning will exit at the end of this month.

New positions created

None of Smith, Dawkins and Venning are technically being replaced. Allwyn is introducing a Director of Social Impact position. Current Chief Impact Officer Alastair Ruxton will take on the role, reporting to Interim CEO Phil Walker and focusing on the connection between good causes, social value and the National Lottery’s wider proposition.

Allwyn will also create the position of Chief Digital Officer, bringing together responsibility for digital products and channels, customer experience, technology, data and platforms, automation and AI. The successful candidate, who is yet to be announced, will be held accountable for the commercial performance of Allwyn’s digital channels.

Meanwhile, Stephen Taylor will join Allwyn as Chief Marketing Officer on Tuesday, 17 November. Taylor holds more than 30 years’ experience in marketing, with his past employers including PayPal, Samsung, Nokia and Pizza Express. Taylor joins from Thrive CMO, a strategic marketing advisory business which he founded.

All change at Allwyn

The new structure will be in place from December 1. Walker said:

“The transformation of the National Lottery has involved an enormous amount of work across our business. Our challenge now is to turn that transformation into stronger growth, a better experience for players and retail partners, and more money for good causes.

“Changes of this scale inevitably affect people who have played important roles in getting us to where we are today. This next stage builds on what they have helped us achieve, and I want to thank them personally for the contribution they and their teams have made to the National Lottery.”

The changes are the latest developments in senior management at Allwyn UK, after Walker  was announced as Interim CEO in August, replacing Andrea Vidler.

The appointment was reportedly scrutinised by MPs, who singled out concern regarding a £19.2 million fine that was handed down to William Hill for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures; at least some of the offences took place while Walker was there.

Sales must pick up

Allwyn will be hoping its restructure leads to stronger sales returns. In 2025, the first full year in which Allwyn held the license, ticket sales totalled £8.1 billion, up 3.5% from 2024. However, sales have dropped in 2026, with Allwyn’s UK revenue falling 16% to €914 million (£775.9 million) in the second quarter.

When Allwyn took over the National Lottery license in February 2024, it pledged to deliver £38 billion for good causes in total across the course of its 10-year license.

For this target to be hit, Allwyn would have to be generating £3.8 billion a year for good causes; significantly more than the £1.7 billion generated in the 12 months to October. The target has since been amended to approximately £3.2 billion per year, or £60 million per week.