Key points:
- The National Lottery Regulator found PLI in breach of its licence, withholding €23,000 ($25,000) as a penalty
- PLI acknowledged a technical issue in 2022 that led to unclaimed prizes but confirmed normal prize rates and no customer complaints
- PLI has since rectified the issue and paid an equivalent amount into a top-up prize fund
Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) has responded to findings in the National Lottery Regulator's 2023 annual report, which noted a breach of the lottery operator's licence.
The breach relates to a technical issue with the "Check My Numbers" feature on the National Lottery website between September and October 2022.
During this period, players were incorrectly informed that their tickets were not winners, resulting in up to 394 unclaimed prizes.
PLI acknowledged the breach and confirmed that it self-reported the issue to the Regulator of the National Lottery (RNL).
According to PLI, while the incident affected some players, it did not lead to unclaimed prize rates exceeding normal levels, and no customer complaints were received regarding the glitch.
As a corrective measure, PLI paid an amount equivalent to all unclaimed prizes into a top-up prize fund.
In a statement made earlier today, a spokesperson for PLI said: “Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) acknowledges the decision by the Regulator of the National Lottery (RNL) to find a licence breach linked to the “Check my Numbers” functionality on the National Lottery website in 2022. The issue was discovered by PLI and self-reported to the RNL.
“PLI can confirm that it did not receive any customer complaints in relation to this isolated incident nor were unclaimed prize rates above normal levels. However, PLI has paid into the top-up prize fund a sum equivalent to all expired unclaimed prizes potentially impacted.
“PLI has introduced a permanent solution and can confirm that the issue has not recurred.”
More generally, the regulator’s annual report also highlighted a 6.2% decrease in National Lottery sales for 2023 and included details on new developments, such as the introduction of the EuroDreams lottery game and enhancements to the self-exclusion facility and prize-claiming processes.
