Latest news with #technologyupgrade
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
National Lottery back up after weekend-long pause for technology upgrade
The National Lottery is back up and running after a complete pause over the weekend to enable the biggest technology upgrade in the game's 31-year history. Operator Allwyn said store terminals were back online at 9am on Monday, followed by the website and app at 9.30am. The first ticket bought on a new 'state-of-the-art' Wave lottery terminal – of which there are 8,000 in shops across the UK – was bought in Peterlee, Durham. Allwyn said it had sold a ticket across all four main games – Set For Life, EuroMillions, Thunderball and Lotto – within two minutes of retail shops opening for trading. Players can expect the same National Lottery online experience as most of the weekend's updates took place behind the scenes. However the new Wave lottery in-store terminals will speed up transactions for players and retailers alike, Allwyn said. Allwyn chief executive Andria Vidler said: 'We're very grateful to players and our retail partners for their support over the weekend, as we modernised legacy systems and went live at 9am this morning. 'This was several hours ahead of schedule and, in the first hour alone, we sold over 118,000 tickets.' All draw game sales and prize claims were paused in shops across the UK from 11pm on Saturday night following the Lotto and Thunderball draws to allow for the technology overhaul. The National Lottery website and app were also down over the same period. During the pause, Allwyn transferred and upgraded the National Lottery's gaming and retail systems to new platforms. The Czech-based Allwyn group – which took over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from Camelot in February last year – said the systems and in-store terminals powering The National Lottery dated back to 2009, 'before iPads, Uber and Instagram', which now needed to be modernised to deliver on 'ambitious' plans for a National Lottery 'fit for the future'.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
National Lottery website is down for 'once-in-a-generation' updates
The National Lottery website is down for around 36 hours for maintenance, and users are unable to buy tickets or claim prizes. Users have reported that they can't get into the site, but it's not an outage - but a planned closure to update the site. All draw game sales and prize claims have been paused in shops across the UK from 11pm on Saturday night following the Lotto and Thunderball draws until 'late Monday morning', operator Allwyn has said. The National Lottery website and app are down over the same period. Why is the National Lottery down? The company say the 36 hour (or so) closure is so that the biggest technology upgrade in the game's 31-year history can take place. This means customers are not able to log into their online accounts, buy draw tickets or claim prizes in-store or online until later today, Monday, August 4. During the pause, Allwyn will transfer and upgrade the National Lottery's gaming and retail systems to new platforms. Recommended reading: Lloyds Bank customers urged to act now or miss out on free £185 Santander customers issued urgent credit card warning after increase in charges Grocery spending at Tesco, Morrisons and more set to rise by £275, experts warn When can I use an instore National Lottery terminal? They should be online again later today too, although the owners have warned that a 'small proportion' of in-store terminals could experience delays coming back up if certain upgrade processes are interrupted for various reasons. The Czech-based Allwyn group which took over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from Camelot in February last year said the systems and in-store terminals powering The National Lottery dated back to 2009, 'before iPads, Uber and Instagram', which now needed to be modernised to deliver on 'ambitious' plans for a National Lottery 'fit for the future'. Allwyn chief executive Andria Vidler said: 'This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver The National Lottery that the UK deserves."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
National Lottery sales go offline for 36 hours for ‘unprecedented' upgrade
National Lottery sales and payouts have been paused for around 36 hours from last night, making way for the game's biggest technology upgrade in 31 years. Operator Allwyn confirmed that all draw game sales and prize claims in UK shops were halted from 11pm on Saturday, following the Lotto and Thunderball draws. The National Lottery website and app is also down. Services are expected to resume by "late Monday morning". Allwyn advised players to buy draw tickets, check results and claim prizes before 11pm on Saturday, as they now that will not be able to log into their online accounts, buy draw tickets or claim prizes – in-store or online – until Monday. Players will be able to check results until systems go offline and will still be able to buy Scratchcards. They will also be able to see the latest draws and view the full results for the Saturday draws on the National Lottery's YouTube channel. During the pause, Allwyn will transfer and upgrade the National Lottery's gaming and retail systems to new platforms. However, it warned that a 'small proportion' of in-store terminals could experience delays coming back up if certain upgrade processes are interrupted for various reasons. The Czech-based Allwyn group – which took over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from Camelot in February last year – said the systems and in-store terminals powering The National Lottery dated back to 2009, 'before iPads, Uber and Instagram', which now needed to be modernised to deliver on 'ambitious' plans for a National Lottery 'fit for the future'. Allwyn chief executive Andria Vidler said: 'This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver The National Lottery that the UK deserves. 'We're making unprecedented and much-needed changes, which will move us closer to achieving our vision for The National Lottery, restoring its magic and significantly increasing its positive impact on lives across the UK. 'These major upgrades will mean short-term disruption for players and our retail partners but they will allow us to deliver on our promise to bring new, exciting games, a better player experience and our commitment to double returns to Good Causes from £30 million to £60 million every week by the end of the 10-year licence.' The switchover has been beset by delays after Allwyn took over the licence, which has held back the launch of new draw-based games. It was unable to switch to a new technology provider after agreeing to extend the contract for the existing supplier, International Games Technology (IGT). IGT had challenged the Gambling Commission's decision to award Allwyn the 10-year licence in court, but later dropped the legal action. Allwyn has previously admitted that delays to the new games it had hoped to introduce in 2024 will hold back the amount of money it can give to good causes in the early part of its 10-year licence. But the group remained committed to its long-term goal to double money for good causes, despite falling short of early targets. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PayPal embarks on $300M restructuring
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Digital payments pioneer PayPal Holdings has begun a 'large-scale initiative' to update its 'existing technology infrastructure' at an estimated cost of as much as $300 million, the company said. The effort is expected to occur over 18 to 42 months and resulted in a $95 million charge during the second quarter, including for employee severance and benefits costs, according to a PayPal quarterly filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The workforce reductions associated with the plan are expected to be completed by 2027, the filing said. It's a major 'existential' technology upgrade for a company that's considered the 'grand-daddy' of the fintech industry, TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin said in an interview. It's a part of providing the technology support for their new initiatives and re-accelerating growth, he said, referring to plans laid out at a February meeting with investors and analysts by PayPal CEO Alex Chriss and other executives. 'Large organizations need modern technology, and that's a component of this,' Bergin explained in a Thursday interview. 'So a lot of this has to do with making sure they are on the most modern technology, and it is also about consolidating disparate systems behind the scenes.' The company laid out the benefits it's seeking by way of the restructuring in its quarterly filing. 'Management undertook a large-scale initiative (the 'Q2 2025 Plan') to re-engineer our existing technology infrastructure to improve scalability, reduce network latency, decrease operational costs, and optimize our workforce,' the filing said. A spokesperson for the San Jose, California-based company declined to comment on the workforce reduction beyond the quarterly filing, which didn't specify how many employees will be cut. The restructuring was mentioned only briefly during a Tuesday webcast with analysts to discuss the company's second-quarter financial results. 'You'll also see in our (second-quarter) materials that we recorded restructuring costs of approximately $92 million,' PayPal's chief financial officer, Jamie Miller, told analysts during the webcast, referencing a non-GAAP figure. 'These costs are related to workforce actions and the key tech transformation initiatives that we discussed in our investor day,' she said. Chriss, who took the top post in September 2023, has replaced much of the company's management team and set a new strategic course since taking over from Dan Schulman, who struggled to expand the company's business after a temporary benefit from COVID-19 e-commerce activity. The three-year initiative will 're-engineer infrastructure, streamline operations and exit certain data centers as we unify platforms and migrate more to cloud-based solutions,' Miller said. Benefits of the overhaul will include increased speed, more flexibility in operations, better data utilization and increased scalability, she added. Based on the quarterly disclosure, the company expects to absorb as much as $300 million in overall cost reductions under the restructuring plan over time. Overall, PayPal forecast $90 million to $100 million in employee severance costs; $40 million to $60 million in accelerated depreciation expense; and other costs of $110 million to $140 million related to the initiative, the filing said. Some of the other costs are related to the re-engineering work, migration to cloud-based software expense, contractor costs, consulting fees, prepaid software expense and maintenance costs, the filing said. Still, the plan is still developing and the cost estimates could change, PayPal noted. The restructuring is also designed to allow the company to better compete with a slew of fintechs entering the payments arena. The current PayPal management team is showing 'more urgency in ultimately modernizing the company because if you don't it's going to be much more difficult in to compete with digital, native players built on stacks today,' Bergin said. Despite some macroeconomic headwinds this year, including related to U.S. tariffs, the company's PayPal namesake payments business for merchants, its Braintree offering for larger businesses and Venmo peer-to-peer system continued to expand. The company's second-quarter payments volume rose 6%, or 5% on a foreign exchange neutral basis, including 45%-plus growth in its Venmo volume and 20%-plus growth in buy now, pay later payments volume, the earnings report showed. Second-quarter net income rose 12% over the year-ago period to $1.26 billion as revenue climbed 5% to $8.29 billion, including a 20% jump in revenue from Venmo, PayPal said. Second-quarter sales and administrative expense dropped 19% to $461 million from a year ago, according to the earnings report, likely reflecting the smaller workforce. Those costs typically include labor expenses. As of the end of last year, PayPal had about 24,400 employees worldwide, including about 8,900 in the U.S., according to the company's annual filing with the SEC in February. PayPal also noted a 'workforce reduction' that began in the first quarter related to a new regulation in an unidentified international market, saying in the quarterly filing that it resulted in costs for the first half of the year of $36 million. Restructuring and related costs have been a reality for the company for the past two years. While the overall 'restructuring and other' charge for the second quarter this year was 3% higher at $116 million relative to the same quarter last year, PayPal's $182 million expense for the first half of this year was 44% lower than for the first half of 2024, according to the filing. Recommended Reading PayPal pays up for talent Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
National Lottery sales and payouts to pause for 36 hours for 'unprecedented' upgrade
National Lottery sales and payouts will pause for around 36 hours this weekend for an "unprecedented" technology upgrade. All draw game sales and prize claims will be paused in shops across the UK from 11pm on Saturday after the Lotto and Thunderball draws until "late Monday morning", operator Allwyn said. The National Lottery website and app will also be down over the same period. Allwyn said the "short-term disruption for players and retailers" would allow for the biggest technology upgrade in the game's 31-year history. In a message on the National Lottery website, players are being told the upgrade is "about improving your experience over the coming months and years". Players are being advised to buy draw tickets, check results and claim prizes before 11pm on Saturday. They will not be able to log into their online accounts, buy draw tickets or claim prizes - in shops or online - until Monday. Players will still be able to buy Scratchcards from stores and view the latest draws and results on the National Lottery's YouTube channel. Allwyn said the lottery's gaming and retail systems will move to new platforms - but warned a "small proportion" of store terminals could experience delays coming back up if certain upgrade processes are interrupted. The Czech-based Allwyn group took over the 10-year licence to run the from Camelot in February last year. The upgrade will pave the way for "new, exciting games", an improved player experience and enable weekly returns to good causes to be doubled to £60m by the end of its licence, Allwyn added. It said the systems and store terminals powering the lottery dated back to 2009, "before iPads, Uber and Instagram" and needed to be modernised to allow for "ambitious" plans. Read more from Sky News: Allwyn chief executive Andria Vidler said: "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver the National Lottery that the UK deserves. "We're making unprecedented and much-needed changes, which will move us closer to achieving our vision for the National Lottery, restoring its magic and significantly increasing its positive impact on lives across the UK."
