Irish TD calls for National Lottery probe after lack of winners

Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan wants an investigation into the lottery after 46 rollovers.

Ireland.- Bernard Durkan, a Teachta Dála in Ireland’s lower house, the Dáil Éireann, for the Fine Gael party, has called for an audit and investigation into Ireland’s National Lottery because of the lack of jackpot winners. 

The biweekly lottery has had no jackpot winner since June 6. Durkan, who sits on the Oireachtas Finance and Public Expenditure committees, blames the number of balls, which was increased to 47 in 2015.

He said: “It’s been almost six months since it was won… The jackpot has been stuck at €19 million since September. I have never agreed with Premier Lotteries Ireland’s decision to increase the number of balls to 47. I’m old enough to remember 1986 when there were 36 balls and that’s how it should have stayed.”

The rules for the lottery mandate that the jackpot be capped at €19.06m after which no additional funds are added. Instead, further rollovers are passed to the next level of prizes. The lottery reached that record amount in September.

Durkan said the chief executive of Premier Lotteries Ireland, Andrew Algeo, should to “drop a couple of balls as a mark of good faith and make the draw more winnable.”

In 1988, the Irish National Lottery had 36 balls. It now has 47. He also called for the return of an independent observer from KPMG to observe draws.

He insisted: “I’m not saying anything odd has happened, but it’s the longest run in the history of the game so we need a bit of reassurance.”

He added that the chances of winning the lottery were now “so remote that punters must be thinking Shergar would have a better chance at winning Squid Game”.

See also: Irish gambling bill proposes ban on free bets and credit card gambling

A spokesman for the lottery said that 23 weeks of rollovers was “an unprecedented event”. 

He said: “Since the jackpot reached the €19m jackpot cap on October 2, 179 players throughout the country who won the Match 5 or Match 5 + Bonus prize have shared in approximately €12.69 million in additional prize money due to the jackpot prize roll down.”