More than 100 National Lottery players who had opted to permanently exclude themselves from its games were allowed, due an inadvertent error, to open new accounts and purchase tickets collectively worth more than €3,200.
In some cases the players, who had wanted to exclude themselves from the lottery, received marketing emails from the operator.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said in this case, which happened in 2022, the regulator of the lottery had withheld funds of €150,000 from the operator.
He said this case was one of 10 incidences of breaches of the National Lottery licence since the system was introduced in November 2014.
READ MORE
Lottery operator Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) said on Thursday it fully accepted the decision of the regulator in 2022 to issue a financial penalty as a result of the incident.
It said it recognised it did not meet the high standards of player protection to which it held itself accountable.
In reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Aidan Farrelly of the Social Democrats, Mr Chambers said in 2022 the online accounts of 126 players who opted for permanent self-exclusion “were inadvertently deleted by an algorithm designed to delete closed accounts after two years (to comply with the General Data Protection Regulations) thus permitting those players to open a new account”.
The Minister said 16 individuals opened new accounts, of whom 10 purchased tickets totalling €3,292 and four received marketing emails.
The Minister said the 16 accounts were closed. In addition the overall 126 deleted accounts were recreated as permanently self-excluded accounts.
“The GDPR algorithm was amended to not include accounts subject to permanent self-exclusion. Existing controls to prevent any self-excluded player from opening another account were tightened.”
Mr Chambers said the regulator issued a statutory direction to the operator “which had the effect of (a) enhancing the controls supporting self-exclusion and (b) empowering the regulator to seek a financial sanction by the High Court on the operator for any future noncompliance with its self-exclusion obligations”.
“The regulator withheld €150,000 in payments due to the operator and transferred this amount to the exchequer for good causes,” the Minister said.
The lottery operator said: “In complying with GDPR requirements, PLI mistakenly deleted certain player records that it should have retained. This unfortunately enabled 16 players, who had previously self-excluded from playing National Lottery games, to set up new National Lottery online accounts.
“PLI detected the error and immediately took steps to rectify the issue. The affected accounts were closed, the incident was reported to the regulator, and a comprehensive investigation was launched to understand the nature of what happened and ensure that it would not reoccur.
“PLI recognises that it did not meet the high standards of player protection to which we hold ourselves accountable and remains committed to ensuring full compliance with the terms of our licence to operate the National Lottery.”
[ €20,000-per-month EuroDreams lottery prize is won in WicklowOpens in new window ]
Mr Farrelly said it was disturbing to learn that people who took a proactive step to opt for self-exclusion away from the lottery were able to establish new accounts.
“I have to question the degree to which the algorithm was designed and tested initially and what assessment was conducted of GDPR rules in this context. Sanctions were correctly applied to the operator but I question what consequence, if any, there was for people who were reintroduced to the lottery products. I would certainly have a concern there.”
Separately, the Minister said almost 400 prizes may have gone unclaimed due to a technical glitch on the National Lottery website that indicated players with winning numbers had not won anything, it has emerged.
Mr Chambers said the regulator had last year withheld €23,000 from PLI as a result of the issue.
The Minister said that during a six-week period in 2022, the Check My Numbers facility on the National Lottery website became available at times when draw results were still being verified.
As a result “some players received a ‘Ticket not a winner’ message when, in fact, the numbers they had entered were winning numbers in the draw that had just taken place and was still being verified”.
