Sazka Group creates new UK-facing brand ahead of National Lottery bid

Sazka Group has unveiled a new UK-facing Allwyn brand to bring the group’s operations under a single umbrella in the market. Allwyn joins the international portfolio alongside Sazka Czech (Czech Republic), OPAP (Greece) and Österreich Lotterien (Austria) as country-specific brands for the Czech parent company. Sazka Group said its “experience of operating in diverse consumer environments” had “helped inform the creation of Allwyn” and that producing local brands for local markets would ensure the operator’s success. Robert Chvátal, Sazka CEO, said: “I’m extremely proud of our success across Europe and I’m hopeful of continuing this journey in the UK by supporting the creation of Allwyn for the UK market. “Since 2013, our track record has spoken for itself: huge sales growth, more people playing, billions back to governments for good causes, and a robust approach to player protection. Allwyn can bring the same sort of innovative thinking and success to the UK,” he added. The Allwyn brand concept was devised in partnership with London-based agency North, which specialises in building transformational brand identities.

Allwyn will now assume the vanguard of Sazka’s bid for the UK’s fourth National Lottery licence as the group looks to wrest the stewardship from Canadian firm Camelot, which has held the licence since its inception in 1994. Additionally, Allwyn confirmed the appointment of Amanda Horton-Mastin to the group’s advisory board, joining Justin King, Brent Hoberman and Charles Garland. Horton-Mastin spent more than 20 years working with Comic Relief and will advise on Allwyn’s good causes strategy ahead of its licence bid. Horton-Mastin said: “I am really excited about the role that Allwyn can play in helping the National Lottery support the UK to rebuild after the long-term effects of the pandemic. “Growing support for good causes is a driving force for me and all the team at Allwyn and, with Sazka Group’s digital expertise and innovative approaches, there will be excellent opportunities for developing the future good causes proposition in the UK,” she added.