REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE National Lottery have appeared before an Oireachtas Committee this afternoon, following concerns that the €19 million Lotto jackpot had not been won since June.

It comes as National Lottery operators, Premier Lotteries Ireland, have sought regulatory approval to hold a “must be won” draw for the €19 million jackpot, which has been capped since early October.

The issue was first raised by Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan in late November, with the Taoiseach first suggesting that the lotto regulator could appear before the Finance Committee a week later.

In an opening statement to the committee, CEO of Premier Lotteries Ireland Andrew Algeo says a must-be-won draw “would ensure that such an improbably long wait for a capped jackpot win cannot occur again”.

“That would also allow us to provide certainty to Lotto players, as to the latest date on which this record €19m jackpot will be won by,” said Algeo.

Regarding the must-win jackpot and how that would work, Algeo explained that if nobody were to match the six numbers for the jackpot, “then the monies would instead be won by the tier below that where there are winners. It would be certain the jackpot amount would be paid to players”. 

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Durkan had initially urged the Lotto bosses to reduce the number of balls in the drum – something which can’t be done for legal reasons. 

Throughout the years the number of balls in the drum for the Lotto went from 39 in 1992, to 42 in 1994, to 45 in 2006, and finally to 47 in 2015.

However, Algeo defended the increased number of balls, despite this making it more difficult to win the jackpot.

“The strong customer preference was to have larger jackpots, that is what is brought about by having a larger number of balls,” he said. 

Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee, John McGuinness said that there was a lot of public interest in the lotto in recent weeks following concerns raised by Durkan.

“There has also been considerable public discussion about why the jackpot has been capped at €19 million since September and not continued to roll over and increase as each draw since failed to produce a winner,” said McGuinness.

In a statement this afternoon, Bernard Durkan said that the ‘must-win prize’ “is an acknowledgement that the 6-month rollover is unsustainable, but questions remain regarding how the new game design will operate”.

“A system that leads to 54 consecutive rollovers, before tonight’s draw, is flawed and we need to see a long-term plan to ensure this does not continue into the future,” he said.

He claimed that “there is no doubt but that the 6-month winning drought has undermined public confidence in the Lotto”. 

“Questions remain around how this new design will operate. When will it kick in? Is it a long-term solution or a once-off answer to the current rollover?” he said.