Lotto apologises for technical issues before Saturday's record €19m jackpot draw, says IT team working to prevent repeat
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LOTTO HQ has apologised to players who missed out on last weekend's record-breaking jackpot draw due to online technical issues.
They added that their IT team is working hard to ensure a similar situation is avoided ahead of this week's draw.
The National Lottery experienced "technical difficulties" on their website and mobile app due to traffic volumes ahead of the mega €19,060,800 jackpot on Saturday night.
No one scooped the mega prize over the weekend, but two players will share over €1.6m after being one number shy of the top prize.
A number of angry punters took to social media to vent their frustration at missing out on the chance of winning Saturday’s €19m prize pot due to the Lotto’s digital crash.
A Lotto spokesperson told the Irish Sun that the issue was a result of large traffic volumes overwhelming their digital platforms.
A statement read: “We are sorry for any inconvenience to players who experienced technical difficulties with our digital channels on Saturday evening.
“Due to a high volume of traffic to our website and app, some players were unable to log in to buy tickets for Saturday night’s record Lotto draw. The high level of demand briefly overwhelmed our system.
“Once we became aware of the issue, we redirected online players to visit their local retailer where possible.
“Ticket sales remained very strong and we believe that the majority of people who wanted to play Lotto were able to do so notwithstanding the fact that the digital channels were not available for a short period ahead of Saturday’s draw. “The draw ran at the usual time as we did not want to disappoint the very high number of players who had purchased tickets.
“Our IT team have worked hard to resolve the issue and continue to work hard to ensure it does not reoccur. As always, we encourage our players to buy their tickets early in store, online or on the National Lottery app.”
