Lottery operator Allwyn joins F1 as official partner

Global lottery operator Allwyn, a flagship of Czech billionaire Karel Komarek's KKCG investment group, and Formula One announced a multi-year partnership on Tuesday that they hoped would tap new audiences.

The deal, between Swiss-based Allwyn AG and the Liberty Media-owned series, has brand awareness as a focus rather than any individual country.

"We have ambitious plans for Allwyn to continue on its successful path of international growth, and this is a significant milestone on that journey," Komarek said. 

Last year Allwyn took over the running of Britain's National Lottery and also operates lotteries in Italy, Austria, Greece and the Czech Republic and has interests in the US.

CEO Robert Chvatal told Reuters Formula One appealed through its growing popularity in the US, with three grands prix on the 24-race calendar, and an increasing female fanbase. He cited the hit Netflix docu-drama series Drive to Survive as another factor and said the partnership would champion community involvement and causes that benefited from lottery funding.

"We take pride as a lottery operator that roughly we reflect the population," said Chvatal. "Our player base is almost 50-50 men and women. Women [are now] more than 40% of the following for Formula One and it all happened in the past four years. This is something which also determined why we decided to partner with Formula One as a series."

Komarek is also a co-founder, with former F1 race winner David Coulthard, of More Than Equal, an organisation seeking the first female F1 champion.

Formula One has not had a female racer since Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976.

Media reports in December suggested Allwyn was also lining up a sponsorship deal with constructors' world champions McLaren but Chvatal would not comment on that.

He ruled out branding being visible in the Middle East, where gambling is barred, and said restrictions at roughly half the races on the calendar were reflected in the deal. No financial details were provided.

Chvatal emphasised that Britain's National Lottery would play no part in the F1 sponsorship, despite the country being home to most of the 10 teams and providing a fifth of the drivers on the starting grid.

"This is a corporate investment by Allwyn at a group level and is not driven from the UK or funded by the UK business," he said. "It has nothing to do with the UK. But having said that, if the group will be visible in Silverstone of course it has some sort of a layover impact on Allwyn UK as an operator of the UK National Lottery."

Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali said the deal reflected a "shared commitment to innovation and celebrating community ... The partnership also provides new opportunities for both our organisations to connect with broader audiences around the world."