Lotto chiefs have been slammed by a former National Lottery chairman for “raiding” the prize fund for expenses and making the jackpot game unfair.
John Hynes was chief executive of An Post and chairman of the An Post National Lottery Company for 13 years until he retired in 2003.
In a stinging letter to the Irish Times on Friday, Mr Hynes lashed out at the current operators of the Lotto, saying the odds for winning the jackpot are “wrong.”
The Lotto has been in the spotlight in recent weeks as the jackpot has not been won in over six months.
It has rolled over and the jackpot is now frozen at just over €19million.
It led to the bosses being hauled into a Dáil committee to explain themselves, where they said they wanted to reform the game to bring in a “must be won” clause.
Fine Gael TD, Bernard Durkan, had highlighted the cause in the first place, with his famous and colourful comments that the jackpot was becoming so hard to win that it would be “easier for Shergar to win Squid Game.”
Mr Durkan backed Mr Hynes, telling the Irish Mirror that he looked forward to Mr Hynes’ complaints being examined in an official review.
Mr Hynes wrote in the Irish Times: “Sir, I served as chairman of An Post National Lottery Company for 13 years.
“The current odds for winning the jackpot are wrong in principle and in practice.
“The appropriation of unclaimed prizes into marketing expenses is a raid on the prize fund which would not have happened in An Post’s time.
“Unclaimed prizes belong to lottery players not the executive.
“It is time to turn back the clock. – Yours, etc.”
Mr Durkan told the Mirror: "In the course of the many discussions that took place over the course of the past few weeks, the general public brought to my attention many issues in respect of how the Lottery was run, won or not won and the methodology of dealing with unclaimed prizes, all of which we expect to be dealt with the course of the review now taking place.”
