Allwyn finalises UK leadership team ahead of National Lottery tenure

Allwyn has announced the new leadership team that will be in charge of the delivery of the fourth UK National Lottery licence, which begins on 1 February 2024.

The firm’s UK division will be led by CEO Andria Vidler, who was announced as the replacement of interim UK CEO Robert Chvátal in July. Vidler will take up the position on 1 October and joins the firm from the global marketing production business Tag Worldwide, where she was Europe, the Middle East and Africa CEO.

Vidler has held two other CEO roles, one at Centaur Media between November 2013 and October 2019 and another at EMI Music UK and Northern Ireland between August 2009 and July 2013. 

Chvátal will go back into his role of overall CEO of Allwyn, once Vidler takes reins in October.

Current Camelot co-CEOs Clare Swindell and Neil Brocklehurst will support the handover process to Vidler before their respective departures. 

Expressing his gratitude to the outgoing Camelot CEOs, Chvátal commented: “I’d like to express my huge thanks to Swindell, Brocklehurst and all the Camelot leadership team for their sterling work over many years supporting The National Lottery.  

“The National Lottery makes a huge contribution to communities across the UK through the money it generates for good causes. They have a great deal to be proud of.  I wish them all the very best for the future.”

Alan Artz has already joined Allwyn as CFO from William Hill. Lotto New Zealand CEO Chris Lyman will become chief operating officer for the UK, while Mark Smith, who is currently group chief technology officer at ITV, will take over the same role at Allwyn in November. 

Other key appointments include Sam Sheriff as chief people officer, chief assurance and participant protection officer Gaby Heppner-Logan and chief commercial officer Lucy Buckley.

Martin Novak will take up the role of chief data officer and Alastair Ruxton will become the firm’s chief strategy and corporate affairs officer. 

Harry Willits will become general counsel for Allwyn UK and Jenny Blogg will take over as operations director. 

Lastly, Eddie Bennett is taking the position of transformation director for operations, with Paul Lumb serving as transformation director for technology. 

All these changes will take effect on 1 October 2023.

On the new appointments, Chvàtal said: “This is a talented team with deep experience and a strong personal commitment to delivering the very best for communities across the UK through ever greater returns to good causes from The National Lottery.  

“Vidler and I look forward to working with them all over the coming years.” 

Allwyn was originally awarded the UK National Lottery licence in March 2022 by the Gambling Commission (GC), but this announcement was met by pushback and legal challenges from previous licence holder Camelot and Camelot’s technology provider IGT. 

Camelot launched a legal challenge in April 2022, arguing that the regulator was not upfront in its communication and that it was owed a “proper explanation” why the GC decided against renewing Camelot’s licence. This challenge led to the High Court temporarily suspending the licensing decision. 

In early September 2022, Camelot withdrew its challenge after reports that money to good causes could be adversely affected by a lengthy court case. 

This led to the GC officially announcing Allwyn as the new UK National Lottery licence holder later the same month.

Allwyn formally acquired Camelot’s UK operations in November 2022 from the firm’s parent company, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.