National Lottery Has First-Ever 24 Hour Delay Caused By A Technical Glitch

It took lottery technicians from 9am to 6pm on Wednesday to restore service to retailers after network problems caused the first-ever postponement to UK's National Lottery.

Wednesday’s scheduled lotto draw in Feb 2015 had to be postponed after technical issues saw ticket machines go down nationwide.

The National Lottery decided to hold the draw the following day as a result.

Sigita Narmontiene, manager John Murray, owner Alan Jordan and Danielle Kealey celebrate selling the winning lotto ticket. Photo: Irish Mirror

Operator Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) took the unprecedented step of deferring the draw for 24 hours after a telecommunications outage knocked out ticket terminals across its network.

Eventually the £10 million (US$15.2 million) prize was drawn, and the National Lottery have now confirmed that the ticket, which was bought in Jordan’s Centra in Curragh Grange, Newbridge, Co Kildare, was actually purchased on Thursday, January 29.

Store manager John Murray said staff will be celebrating all day.

Manager John Murray of Centra store at Curragh Grange in Newbridge. Photo: Irish Mirror

"As much as it was a hassle for the Lotto on Wednesday it was good news for us yesterday, we are now the first agent to sell a winning national lotto ticket on a Thursday [for a Thursday night draw]," he said.

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