National Lottery refuses to say how much spent in Cavan
The Irish National Lottery has refused to provide a breakdown of lottery figures for County Cavan citing “commercial reasons”.
The Anglo-Celt had contacted the company requesting details of the number of national lottery tickets that have been purchased - and the amount spent on them - in County Cavan. The Celt further request details on how many national lottery scratch cards have been purchased – and how much has been spent on them - in County Cavan.
However, a Lottery spokesman refused this newspaper’s requests. They claimed that they could not “release information on ticket transactions and regional sales figures due to obvious competition reasons”.
The Irish National Lottery operates as a state licensed monopoly.
Asked for clarity on the “obvious competition reasons” the company spokesman stated that “any online competitors could see which counties have strongest/weakest sales”.
While a national lottery has operated since March 1987 in the Republic, The Anglo-Celt was only seeking figures relating for the period November 2014 to this year. This coincides with the Government’s awarding of a 20-year licence to operate the National Lottery to a company called ‘Premier Lotteries Ireland’ (PLI).
The Irish National Lottery’s website outlines that the shareholders of PLI are Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), An Post and An Post Pension Funds. It further states that OTPP has C$140.8 billion in net assets, and “is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada”.
Online games
In addition to details on scratch cards – which can cost up to €20 for a single card – and tickets for National Lottery draws, The Anglo-Celt also signalled its intentions to seek details on their online games. The website offers numerous online gambling game options.
However the spokesman for Irish National Lottery claimed:
“In terms of winner stats for Co Cavan from online – these just are not available as there is no way of deciphering where in country most online winners are from.”
The Anglo-Celt noted that to play the online games individuals must first register, and provide your address, including “county” from a drop down menu.
The spokesman responded: “As stated already we do not release the level of detail that you have requested for commercial reasons for both retail and online channels.”
The National Lottery spokesperson was happy to outline numerous positive statistics, including that “last year alone Cavan National Lottery Players raised €3,720,639 for good causes by playing our games”.
The cost of playing the National Lottery is set to rise from next month, with the price of a two-line ticket with Lotto Plus to increase from €5, to €6.