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Computer Says No
Lotto cancelled until tomorrow after lottery machines go on the blink
Don’t worry, if you have a ticket, it’s still valid.
TONIGHT’S LOTTO JACKPOT may be €10 million but National Lottery machines around the country aren’t keen on it being won – they’ve been out of commission since this morning.
The National Lottery has now confirmed that tonight’s draw has been cancelled.
In a statement, it said:
The National Lottery can confirm that there were technical problems this morning following a service outage related to the 3G telecommunications infrastructure provided by Telefónica. This incident affected business customers across Ireland and Europe including over 3,500 National Lottery agents. We are continuing work to re-establish the connection between the agent terminals and the network.To ensure all our players have an opportunity to play for the €10 million Lotto jackpot, the Lotto draw will now take place on Thursday 5 February 2015. Tickets already purchased for the midweek draw remain valid for this draw.
It thanked players and agents for their patience.
“It’s a telecommunications problem,” Lotto spokesperson Nuala Kane told TheJournal.ie earlier today.
The machines have been down nationwide since 9.06 this morning. The core issues have been resolved so we expect the machines to be back up and running later this afternoon.
A subsequent Lottery statement confirmed that a ‘network incident’ had nobbled lottery agents across Europe today.
Service has now been restored and National Lottery agent terminals are in the process of re-establishing their connection to the network.
The current jackpot has been rolling since December 13.
Hurry it up there guys!
- Additional reporting Aoife Barry. Originally published 6.45pm
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