10 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 Lottery-Led, Future-Focused: How Allwyn Is Building a Global Gaming Entertainment Company Robert Chvátal Chief Executive Officer, Allwyn Paul Jason: Allwyn seems to be on the cutting edge of reinventing what it means to be a “lottery” company, adding new game categories and distributional strategies. What will “lottery” look like in 3 or 5 years? Robert Chvátal: Our vision is to be the leading gaming entertainment company in the world. We are proudly lottery-led: they are our foundation and remain the bedrock of our business, contributing over 70% of gross gaming revenue. But for us as a business, the diversification you have seen into areas such as sports betting, iGaming and, most recently, daily fantasy sports, is something that makes sense for Allwyn – it means more flexibility, more innovation, and more exciting ways to play our games – resulting in a materially enhanced consumer offer. It reflects what our consumers are showing us they want, with products that are more social, fast-paced and innovative such as free-to-play and peer-to-peer. Bringing greater novelty and excitement across the board, whether it’s through traditional drawbased games with new features, or through new product areas, is central to what we need to do to ensure we are ahead of the curve. If you don’t keep innovating in this space, you fall behind. PGRI INTERVIEWS PGRI Introduction: Allwyn, formerly Sazka Group, is a multi-national gaming entertainment company headquartered in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded by entrepreneur Karel Komarek, its journey began with the acquisition of Czech lottery operator Sazka in 2011. Over the past 15 years, the company has gradually expanded its lottery operations across Europe to cover the Austrian, Greek, Cypriot, Italian and UK markets. In 2023, with the acquisition of Camelot, the company gained a foothold in the United States through the operation of the Illinois Lottery. At the same time, the company’s operations have grown beyond its lottery-led foundation to include minority stakes in sports betting operator Betano and German reseller NextLotto, as well as a majority share in leading eInstants content provider Instant Win Gaming (IWG). Allwyn has also announced its intention to acquire majority stakes in sports betting operator Novibet, leading daily fantasy sports outfit PrizePicks, and a business combination with OPAP, in which it already owns a 51.78% share. This last transaction would, once completed, lead to the company being listed on the Athens Stock Exchange in 2026. Alongside these significant acquisitions, Allwyn has made notable investments in its global brand through partnerships with the McLaren Formula 1 team and Formula 1 itself, and is rebranding Sazka and OPAP to bring them under the Allwyn name in January 2026. After another packed year for Allwyn, we took the opportunity to speak with Robert Chvátal, the group’s CEO, about what he’s been working on and what comes next for Allwyn. Hoch Zwei Photography
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