The National Lottery’s UK operator has seen sales tumble 14% in recent months, weeks after it was revealed its payments to good causes declined to an eight-year low at the start of the year.
Allywn, which operates the lottery, said total revenues in the three months to the end of June were 914 million euro (£784 million) in the UK, down 14% on the same quarter a year ago.
Contributions to good causes and gaming taxes totalled 678 million euro (£578 million) in the second quarter.
This was down on the 859 million euro (£737 million) paid in the same period last year.
It comes after recent data from the Gambling Commission showed payments transferred to good causes declined to the lowest level in eight years in the first quarter of 2026.
Money raised in the National Lottery goes toward funding including for health, education, sport and arts in the UK.
The amount contributed varies based on factors such as the company’s sales and the amount distributed in prize money to lottery winners.
The Government launched a review into the National Lottery’s funding model in July, giving members of the public the chance to have a say on where the money should go.
Allwyn said the year-on-year decline in sales was driven by more favourable EuroMillions jackpot cycles in 2025, meaning this year was weaker by comparison.
It was also impacted by a major tech upgrade which took the National Lottery website and apps offline for around 24 hours while work was carried out.
The upgrade, which cost about £450 million worth of investment, involved moving 18 million player records and more than three billion historical transactions from old platforms to new ones, updating the lottery website and mobile apps, as well as transforming the technology used by retail partners.
Allwyn said it was expecting UK revenues to come in lower for the full year than it was previously anticipating.
The National Lottery has been boosted in recent weeks following the launch of a UK version of the world’s biggest jackpot game Powerball last month.
It meant joining the game during a 43-draw rollover that culminated in a 1.04 billion US dollar (£890 million) prize in Illinois in the US.
The UK jackpot of £521 million was more than double the highest-ever EuroMillions jackpot of 250 million euros (£214 million).
The draw reached a million prize winners on Thursday with a total of £14.1 million paid out.
Across the group, which also operates lotteries in countries including Austria, Greece and Cyprus, revenues increased by 6% to 2.4 billion euros (£2.1 billion) for the second quarter.