Human error and poor contols led to Lotto players losing out on scratchcard winnings worth up to €50,000, it has been found.
A probe by the regulator of the National Lottery released the findings of an independent inquiry into an issue relating to three games operated by Premier Lotteries Ireland DAC.
It focused on two scratchcard games from 2019 – Congratulations 186 and Congratulations 223 (worth up to €50,000) – and a scratchcard game that ran in 2015 – Diamond Bingo Doubler (worth up to €20,000) – where the number of top prizes up for grabs didn’t match the number approved for each game.
However, the regulator is happy that Lotto chiefs acted transparently and this was not an intentional fault but instead down to human error.
They have now put in place better controls and have taken on the cost of fixing the issue.
The value of the prizes was returned to players and player numbers did not drop as a result of the findings.
The regulator said: “The matter does not concern scratchcard games in circulation today and the regulator has checked this issue did not arise in relation to any other games.
“Several new controls are in place to prevent a recurrence of such errors by the operator, whose board engaged the services of external professional firms to assist with design and implementation.
“The operator has incurred the cost of rectifying the issue.”
