The price of a lottery ticket is going up while the odds of winning the big jackpot are going down, as part of a raft of new changes to the National Lottery.

Lotto bosses are refusing to comment on claims that prices for National Lottery games will increase within the next few months and that more balls will be added to draws — decreasing the chances of winning.

The new operators of the National Lottery are to appear before the Oireachtas finance committee next Wednesday to face a grilling from retailers and politicians about serious technical glitches in the system since the takeover.

The Lotto draw - with a €10m jackpot - will take place this evening after it was cancelled last night for the first time ever.

Changes to the National Lottery may cause problems for punters who have yet to collect their winnings as local retailers switch over to a new payout system.

The National Lottery is to undergo a significant facelift as its new owners swap the yellow ticket slips for green, allow shops to cash larger amounts of money and revamp scratch card designs.