Ireland’s lottery regulator has admitted to a need for “greater transparency” from the National Lottery after it was revealed that it had accumulated €124m in unclaimed prizes since 2014. The 2021 report on the finances of the public services by Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Seamus McCarthy, published on Friday, reveals that €17.7m on average per year is returned to the lottery in unclaimed prizes. The vast majority of that €124m total, €122m, has since been spent on promoting and advertising the lottery itself. Meanwhile, it is understood that the National Lottery, upon learning that the C&AG planned to audit the exchequer’s receipts from National Lottery ticket sales, objected to its inclusion in that audit on the basis that it is a private entity. Responding to the C&AG, the lottery regulator said it “partially agreed” with that recommendation.

Source: Irish Examiner September 30, 2022 21:37 UTC