Lotto ‘Glitch’ costs winner £800,000
Posted by lotteryjoy on December 29, 2008
Lotto ‘Glitch’ Costs Winner £800K!
The lucky punter will pocket £3.4 million rather than the £4.2 million previously thought, because of the lost sales.
Camelot apologised after the problem which left players around the country fuming because they were unable to buy tickets.
Regular player Tracey Birchall, 30, a trainee teacher from Bristol, said: “I’m absolutely gutted. What’s going on?
“It would have been nice to see in the new year with a lottery win.”
Another man attempting to buy a ticket in the same shop had travelled into Bristol from Stroud, not knowing it was a nationwide problem.
“He had come all that way so he was really furious and he was getting seriously annoyed with the shop staff,” Mrs Birchall said.
At the beginning of the National Lottery draw show on BBC1 last night, host Carole Machin apologised to viewers.
She said: “Due to a network communication issue this afternoon players may have experienced difficulties buying national lottery tickets in store or via the National Lottery website.
“We would like to apologise to anyone affected.”
Camelot said the “network communications issue” had resulted in either slower than normal transactions or retailers being unable to perform transactions at all.
Ticket machines across the country were up and running again at full speed after 6pm, it added.
