Allwyn UK Names Interim CMO for National Lottery Growth

Allwyn UK has announced an update to its leadership structure as it continues its transformation of The National Lottery, which it took over operation of in February 2024. 

Among these changes is the announcement that the company will be appointing a Chief Marketing Officer to bring together brand, marketing, creative, CRM, communications, product marketing, winners’ services and customer experience under one umbrella to create a stronger and more consistent connection with players. 

Stephen Taylor, the CEO and Founder of CMO Thrive, will be joining the company as Interim Chief Marketing Officer as the company begins its search for a permanent CMO. 

“I'm excited for the chance to work on a brand I have grown with,” says Stephen. “The heritage, reach and purpose of The National Lottery is second to none. 

“For more than 30 years, The National Lottery has brought people together through the possibility of winning, while generating billions of pounds for Good Causes across the UK.”

Three decades of marketing experience

Set to join Allwyn UK on 17 November, Stephen brings more than three decades of experience to the role – having worked for major consumer brands such as PayPal, Samsung, Pizza Express and Nokia. 

In September 2025, he founded CMO Thrive, a strategic marketing advisory and executive coaching business which provides fractional support to CEOs, CMOs and founders. 

Before that, he was the Chief Marketing Officer of Côte Restaurants, where he led a comprehensive brand re-positioning project for the company. 

A period of transformation for The National Lottery

The decision to create a Chief Marketing Officer role follows a period of transformation for The National Lottery, with Allwyn UK announcing a £450m (US$599m) investment in March 2026 to produce more winners, attract more players and deliver sustainable growth.

Allwyn UK is also debuting a new senior team structure to help accelerate growth and improve the experience for players and retail partners by bringing key commercial, customer and technology capabilities closer around Allwyn’s retail and digital channels. 

The company has also announced the creation of a new Director of Social Impact role to help communicate the positive impact of The National Lottery on communities across the UK, while a new Chief Digital Officer role will bring together responsibility for digital products and channels, customer experience, technology, AI and more. 

Alongside this, the Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director of Digital roles will end – as technology capabilities become more directly integrated into Digital, Retail and Security. 

“The transformation of The National Lottery has involved an enormous amount of work across our business,” says Phil Walker, Interim CEO of Allwyn UK. “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.

“That means putting customers closer to our decisions, giving our Retail and Digital businesses the capabilities they need to compete and innovate, and creating much clearer accountability for performance.

“Good Causes are at the heart of what makes The National Lottery special. We have a real opportunity to help more people understand the extraordinary difference players make through The National Lottery and make that an even stronger reason to play.

“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.”

Who are Allwyn UK’s key partners? 

• Scientific Games: Scientific Games supplies the central gaming engine, modern in-store Wave terminals across tens of thousands of retailers and exclusive scratchcard production and logistics facilities.   
• Vodafone UK: Vodafone is Allwyn UK’s strategic telecommunications partner responsible for upgrading and maintaining the critical network infrastructure.
• FarrPoint: FarrPoint acts as a network technology advisor for Allwyn UK, supporting the company on its infrastructure programme. 
• Co-op: This is one of Allwyn UK's largest commercial retail distributors, offering ticket and scratchcard sales across its vast nationwide store network.