National Lottery Reviews 166

OMG, sorry a long vent at the utter madness with these CON people.
I played on my online account a Deal or No Deal Scratch card… I was absolutely gobsmacked when the last box was £1,000 as my rare times of playing these I usually get winnings of cost of card back, an occasional £10 or ziltch.
The prize was altered to just £6. I stared at my mobile in disbelief.
I’m not an idiot and the last box had £1000 allocated to it, so they’ve basically screwed me out of £994.
Immediately checked for how to complain, and sent an email. Got a reply back with the ‘ We are currently experiencing a higher than normal number of contacts…’ have you checked our questions page 😤
Going back to them a couple of days later, guess what the same email response…
Then today an email about using online chat and requesting a replay… so that’s what I do… getting a ‘human’ the first obstacle from their Bot manned system, then said human request name and date & time I played, I gave a rough time (minutes out) to be told to go away and come back when I know correct time… first stupid response as game was played twice, first being a Free try it game, so obviously my account only showed the one paid & played game…
I did as instructed, stating about 18:30 was not sufficient, so 18:18 was given… he then told me I’d won £6, I repeated my request for my game to be replayed as per the email had instructed.
Human ghosted me…. Few minutes passed, I asked if still there… got told to wait a minute… it was about 5 minutes when screen flashed up they’d left the chat & closed it… arrrgh…
I started. a new chat… Bot wanted my email address this time and immediately closed chat as ‘agents busy’
Tried again, similar thing… like having a door slammed in your face…
Tried phone number… guess what all their agents are busy…
Avoid, Avoid, Avoid… looking through these reviews there’s a pattern of unpaid prizes…

Online site in meltdown! I play lotto online tonight it has crashed stating it was unable to cope with high volume of traffic! This is a absolute disgrace 17-4-2026, Another massive failure with a foreign company taking over a British institute just look how crap Royal Mail is now! This company is out of their depth if they are unable to offer a first class service! God bless Scotty McClue! 🧟🤑🚀

Absolutely awful since Allwyn have taken over. Camelot were rubbish but at least the system mostly worked. Their £450m upgrade is a complete waste of money. The new app/website is more difficult to navigate. Have to spend longer on it than before to buy the same tickets. Checking draws and matches now has to be done separately for each line on each ticket. Getting an email telling you that you have won a prize helps not one whit when you cannot log into the app or the site. Can't log in today and it's a recurring problem not a one off. This company needs to fix the setup pronto or give the franchise up to someone who can. What a complete joke. If your customers cannot log in you don't get any money from them. Super bunch of executives you have there. 🤦‍♂️

Closed my account. Got an email saying I'd won 30 quid. Looked on my bank account no 30 quid. Looked on my balance in the lottery app, no 30 quid so, logically thought it was a scam. Closed my lottery account immediately. Then rang the help line only to be told that you have to look into your direct debit details in the app to see the 30 quid. What an absolute pile of crap that is. The person on the helpline even made light of my concern about the culture of scamming people out of their money
Anyway have requested that all my details are erased from their servers immediately
I believe it's a new organisation who have taken over the running of the lottery. Well, they won't be getting any more of my money. The national lottery is just a tax on idiots anyway. You're 12 times more likely to be struck by lightning than win the jackpot.

Price doubled several years ago , and the odds of winning halved!
Absolute rip off!

Has Rachel Reeves anything to do with this new set up.
It’s absolutely crap,

What the cxxc is going on. Spent money on tickets and had the Lottery accept the payment. Today however, I have not got an account? where are my tickets and if my numbers were to come up, and I know, little to no chance but where would any winnings go

l’v been doing the national lottery for a long time more recently. l’v down loaded the app. l keep getting these notifications about being game play aware which is understandable but that is the whole point in having the app for convenience so you can play the lottery. l’v reduced my deposit limit & don’t play the instant win games anymore yet they still keep on & the lottery are the worst to keep on there ripping you off all the time with these scratch cards. l will probably go back to buying my lottery ticket from the shop less hassle

Nightmare new app!
I can never rely on the app to buy tickets as it says I'm either not in the UK or have exceeded my limit -( I buy one ticket for each draw, on the day of each draw and I have never set a spending limit so by default it's £500). I have written to customer services who do not bother to reply, I have checked all of my details and everything is correct, I have even tried to close my account.

Shocking....

Glad I couldn't get on line to buy a ticket now I have read all these bad reviews I will never buy another ticket. A national scandal! Time the UK Government looked into this

its worst app and stupidity.

we use to play with logic. if play continusly for four weeks atleast we can win one time. the app is not working before depositing . the number which i chosen won the euro millinium 1500£. its night mare. with UK national lottery.

Cannot update debit card details as allegedly have an ongoing transaction. Website is unusable.

I purchased a instant game and lost the connection rang the helpline and she said she would play the game and tell me the results.
Why would I purchase a game for someone else to play. Never again

Yes, it is a lottery and yes, we know it was set up to fund 'The Arts' or at least those arts which most of us have no interest and which the nobs think we should pay for.
I can only echo what so many others have said, the new website is far from simple and it just snatched my money before I was able to check anything! I recall the CEO hitting out at those who 'moaned' about the near 200m GBP that go to Canada every year for teachers pension funds - an amount that would have provided some much needed hospital provision for the UK. As for the number of 'winners' don't get me started.

Absolutely awful customer experience with the National Lottery ! I had just 70 pence balance, got a new debit card, and was told I can’t update it until my balance is zero—fine, I’ll move 70 pence ! But then I call customer service, only to be stuck in an endless loop with a useless AI, finally told they won’t help me today ! For a company making millions from hopeful players, this is a disgusting way to treat customers. The worst AI service I’ve ever dealt with. Now I’ll even miss out on tonight’s draw because I can’t buy a ticket until this is sorted.

This is the IRISH National Lottery.

The title should reflect this.

Crap site. Absolute rubbish

I am writing this review to share my honest experience using both the app and the website. While the platform provides basic gambling services, the overall user interface and functionality feel outdated compared to modern standards in 2026.

One of the biggest weaknesses is the notification system. When a win notification appears, it does not provide direct access to the winning ticket or detailed result information. Clicking the notification simply opens the app without showing anything useful. Even after entering the app or website, finding your winning ticket requires manual searching through ticket lists. There is no automatic result summary or highlighted winning entries, which makes the experience unnecessarily frustrating.

Result presentation is also very poor. After winning, the system does not clearly show which numbers or selections were correct. Users must manually compare numbers themselves, which should not be necessary in a modern digital platform.

The website experience mirrors the app’s problems. Navigation is not very intuitive, and important information such as spending history, win summaries, or responsible gambling statistics is not displayed in a simple, centralized dashboard.

The gambling limit control system is another concern. While responsible gambling tools are important, the implementation here is not user-friendly. Spending limits are difficult to monitor because there is no clear breakdown of weekly or monthly usage.

What is particularly frustrating is the sudden blocking pop-up. Instead of giving early warnings as users approach their limit, the system abruptly stops gameplay once the limit is reached. A gradual warning system would be much more reasonable.

The €300 monthly limit is also quite restrictive for users participating in syndicate play, and there is little flexibility in adjusting limits.

Overall, the platform needs significant improvements in interface design, result tracking automation, and user-friendly control features.
It is also worth noting that Irish National Lottery does not appear to respond to customer comments here on Trustpilot, despite many users reporting similar issues. This creates the impression that customer feedback is not being taken seriously.
Many players feel that the company’s communication with users could be improved, especially considering the scale of its operations and the amount of revenue generated from players. The perception among some customers is that user experience concerns are overlooked while the business continues to operate at a very large scale. For example, games such as the millionaire-style draws are widely discussed by users who believe the platform generates substantial nightly profits, although exact figures are not publicly confirmed.
This is simply meant as feedback and observation from a customer perspective. I hope the platform will improve its communication, transparency, and responsiveness to user concerns in the future.
In conclusion, this platform urgently needs modernization and a more customer-focused approach. Basic features such as clear notification routing, transparent result display, and practical gambling control tools should not be difficult to implement in 2026. Customers are not asking for complex innovations — only for functionality that works properly.
Lack of responsiveness to repeated user feedback is very concerning for a public service operated at the scale of Irish National Lottery. When many customers report the same problems, it should be treated as a priority rather than ignored.
If improvements are not made, trust in the platform will continue to decline. Players deserve transparency, usability, and respect for their time and money.

Total joke.
Phone not compatible with latest upgrade. Certainly wont be upgrading phone to accommodate rubbish app. See reply from support below.
Thank you for contacting the National Lottery with your query.
 
We continually update our app to ensure it offers the best possible experience for our players. 
 
Supporting older Android versions below 10 has become increasingly challenging, we must ensure our ability to maintain compatibility while implementing new features and security enhancements.
By focusing on Android 10 and above, we can dedicate resources to providing a more reliable, feature-rich, and secure app experience. 
 
While our app will not work on your device, our website is still available for use and we hope that it is sufficient for your usage.

New site is horrendous, difficult to navigate. No emails to say your monthly ticket has ended. Viewing your ticket has never been so difficult.

If you don't want people play, then well done.

Online is supposed to be easy. You have made it unusable