National Lottery draw conducted off-air due to technical issues

Updated: 9.20am

A National Lottery draw on Saturday night was forced to take place off-air due to technical difficulties.

The Lotto Plus 1 draw had been taking place as scheduled, televised live on RTÉ 1, when a statement appeared on screen reading: "Due to technical issues, tonight's Lotto draw(s) cannot be completed as scheduled.

"The draw(s) will be completed as soon as possible. Please hold all tickets and await a further announcement."

The National Lottery followed up with a statement confirming there was a "minor technical issue" with Saturday night's draw when the Lotto Plus 1 draw matching began selecting balls "earlier than the sequence should have started".

Earlier this evening we suspended the live broadcast of the Lotto draw due to a minor technical issue when the Lotto Plus 1 draw machine began selecting balls earlier than the sequence should have started. (2/5)

— The Irish National Lottery (@NationalLottery) October 21, 2023

However, the statement added: "There is no issued with either the integrity of the draw or the numbers drawn".

As is standard procedure when a technical issue arises, the recording of the draw continued but the live television broadcast was suspended, the National Lottery added.

"This is in order to protect the integrity of the draw and is in line with our approved game rules and processes, all of which are and were independently observed by KPMG.

"The balls originally selected by the Lotto Plus 1 machine are final. The Lotto and Lotto Plus 2 draws were then conducted off air. Results of all draws are published on lotter.ie and will be displayed later on RTÉ 1," the statement concluded.

As posted on the National Lottery website, the winning numbers for Saturday's Lotto draw were: 8, 12, 16, 20, 26, 35, and the bonus ball 23.

The balls for the Lotto Plus 1 draw were: 6, 7, 8, 16, 30, 41, and the bonus ball was 26. Finally, the Lotto Plus 2 balls were: 6, 9, 30, 31, 34, 46, and the bonus ball 20.