The National Lottery has apologised to frustrated players after its website crashed ahead of Tuesday night's record EuroMillions draw. The jackpot, estimated at £184 million, is the largest ever offered in the UK.
Players hoping to purchase tickets before the 7.45pm draw reported being unable to access the site. A message appeared on the website stating: 'PLEASE KEEP TRYING. Access to some things might take more than one try. Give it another go. Thanks for bearing with us.'
Responding to complaints on Twitter, the National Lottery said: 'Sorry to hear this. With it being our biggest ever Jackpot, lots of people were trying to access the website to get their tickets, which means it ran slower than usual.'
The £184 million jackpot eclipses the previous UK record of £170 million, won by an anonymous ticketholder in 2019. No one won the £174 million EuroMillions jackpot on Friday, causing the top prize to roll over into Tuesday's draw.
There have been five UK EuroMillions jackpot winners so far this year, including anonymous winners of £122 million in April and £111 million in June. The biggest recent UK winners to go public were Frances and Patrick Connolly from Northern Ireland, who won £115 million in 2019.
