New Ball Machines for Lotto Draws, And A New Studio in London!

Updated: Tuesday 15th July 2025

Some of our more attentive lottery fans may have noticed that recent Lotto (and Lotto Hotpicks) draws have been carried out using a new draw machine we haven't seen before!

The new machine, named 'Lotto 2', debuted on the draw held on Wednesday the 9th of July, and was used again for the following draw on Saturday 12th. This presents a few questions. How come a new machine has been introduced? Why doesn't it have an Arthurian name like the others (think Lancelot & Guinevere)? Are there any differences between the old machines and this new one? And how come there's no 'Lotto 1'?

We've checked all these questions and more through the official National Lottery media & help channels, but unfortunately they haven't been able (or perhaps authorised, as of yet) to provide any answers.

What's the new draw machine like?

There is one important question we can start to answer - what is the new machine like? We've compared the Lotto draw livestreams side-by-side to see whether there are any differences, and there are a couple!

You probably wouldn't notice them unless you knew in advance the ball machine had been changed. The ball collection area on Lotto 2 has a transparent background, whereas before it was solid, and the circle decals showing where each ball will come to rest have been removed. Also, the hatch through which the balls are selected appears to have a different mechanism, with more wires visible on Lotto 2 compared to the older machines.

Why might Allwyn be making the change?

We can't confirm anything, but we have a couple of theories we have as to why this change might have happened. First of all, now that Camelot is no longer the operator of the National Lottery, the Arthurian name scheme doesn't make much sense! The new operator, Allwyn, took over in 2024, and this could be a move to distance their operations from Camelot. If this is the case, then perhaps more new draw machines will be introduced in the coming months.

That said, the name Allwyn does sound very Welsh (where the Legend of King Arthur takes place), so in our opinion the old theme still sort-of works.

Testing for a new studio?

One interesting piece of info we received during our mostly-fruitless enquiries is that Allwyn plans to open a new studio in London at some point later this year. Perhaps these latest draws are test-runs for the machine they intend to use at the new studio? If this were the case, then the machine might get given a "proper" name later on. After all, Excalibur and Lancelot are much more fun than 'Lotto 2'.

Unfortunately though, we'll just have to wait for more details from the National Lottery before any of this can be confirmed! What do you think might be going on with the Lotto draw machines?

Published: Tuesday 15th July 2025

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