Doherty calls on National Lottery to explain how top prize scratch cards 'went missing'
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has called on the National Lottery to explain how top prizes on scratch card games “went missing” on three occasions.
It was “deeply suspicious” that it was the top prizes that were not paid on each occasion, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
There are also questions that need to be answered by the regulator of the National Lottery.
“The regulator has 10 staff dealing with only one company with real time access to all tickets and yet it wasn’t the regulator who discovered this.”
Mr Doherty described the relationship between the regulator and the National Lottery operator as “inappropriate.”
“The regulator’s office has completely failed.”
There was a serious flaw in the legislation governing the National Lottery, added Mr Doherty. He pointed out that in the past three years there had been €71million in unclaimed prizes, which under the existing legislation could be used by the operating company for additional marketing. In the UK unclaimed prizes go to worthy causes.
