Lotto ticket terminals crash again

National Lottery ticket terminals crashed yesterday for two hours — for the second time in less than a month.

The National Lottery confirmed the disruption was due to a firewall server malfunction, claiming the issue was quickly resolved.

The latest crash came after the company was forced to defer the February 4 midweek jackpot. The postponement had been the first in the Lotto’s 28-year history, after technical issues caused a service outage across 95% of the network.

Premier Lotteries Ireland, a group which includes UK lottery giant Camelot and An Post, last year succeeded in a €405m bid to operate the National Lottery licence for the next 20 years. CEO designate Dermot Griffin had pledged investment in the National Lottery to provide “state-of-the art technology to facilitate game innovation”.

Almost 4,000 new ticket terminals, supplied by the Greek company Intralot, were distributed to retail outlets nationwide, boasting an upgraded interface and functions such as optical reading. However, retailers reported multiple technical difficulties, such as failures to scan barcodes correctly.

Meanwhile, the holder of a winning ticket worth €2.9m missed the 5.30pm deadline yesterday to claim the prize. The €3 Quick Pick had been bought in a Tesco store in Silverbridge, Claremorris, Co Mayo.

It was the second highest jackpot in National Lottery history to go unclaimed.