Lotto glitches: A poor decision?

WE’RE not quite at the stage when it’s as hard to buy a Lotto ticket as it is to win it, but if ticket terminals keep crashing at the rate they have been then it won’t be long more before we reach that point.

Ticket terminals crashed yesterday afternoon for the third time since the beginning of February and one of those disruptions forced a draw to be deferred for the first time in 28 years. The National Lottery confirmed that a number of terminals across the network suffered technical issues for a period of about 40 minutes, but that issues were quickly resolved and normal service resumed.

The privatisation of the National Lottery has not been an entirely happy experience. A service that once ran flawlessly is now questionable and, according to some retailers, is losing sales needlessly.

These unfortunate glitches, and the unexpected pace of the economic recovery, must raise the obvious question — why did we so quickly sell off, even for a period, an institution that was run so successfully and profitably?