National Lottery apologises after major delay leaves players scratching heads over £2million draw

Alice Tomlinson
Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:18:56 +0000

The National Lottery had to apologise after a major delay in calling the winning numbers which left eager players scratching their heads over the whopping £2million draw.

Last night's Lotto draw left potential winners in suspense for over an hour and a half as there was a technical difficulty with the broadcast.

A spokesperson for the organisation stated: "Due to a technical fault the live stream is delayed. We're working hard to fix it and apologise for the inconvenience."

The fault meant uncertainty over when the draw would actually take place, leaving players on the edge of their seats as the draw's announcement took longer than anticipated.

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Eventually, after a painstaking 90 minutes, the numbers 4, 14, 22, 32, 38 and 52 emerged as the winning combination, with 27 drawn as the Bonus Ball.

The Wednesday evening draw offered players the chance to claim a £2million jackpot prize.

Draws for the Lotto occur twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8pm, with each entry costing £2.

Whilst it is not yet known if anyone won big in last night's delayed draw, there have been some lucky winners this month.

Bernie Prescott, a 63-year-old lorry driver from Wigan, won £124,067 on the EuroMillions lottery after initially thinking he had only won £10.

He verified the numbers with his wife Donna, 59, before calling the National Lottery's claims line, where he said "I honestly couldn't believe it when they said the amount".

When the claims team asked where he had bought the winning ticket, Mr Prescott was stumped, explaining that with his shift pattern he is "here, there and everywhere all over the country" and often buys tickets at motorway services.

The mystery was eventually solved when he recalled buying the Lucky Dip ticket at his local Post Office on a rare day off.

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Caroline Talbot, Winners' Advisor at Allwyn, which operates The National Lottery, said she "couldn't be happier" for the couple, describing them as "such a lovely couple".

In another case this week, a mystery lottery winner from South Gloucestershire came forward to claim a £1million Lotto prize with just hours to spare before the midnight Thursday deadline.

The winning ticket was from the November 1, 2025 draw, with the lucky player having matched five main numbers — 17, 18, 31, 36, 39 and 51 — plus the Bonus Ball of 29.

Winners have 180 days from the draw date to submit their claim, meaning this player had nearly let their fortune slip away entirely.

Andy Carter, Senior Winners' Advisor at Allwyn, called the timing "absolutely extraordinary," saying: "To receive a claim for this life-changing £1million Lotto prize in the final hours before the final deadline is absolutely extraordinary."

Carter noted that while unclaimed prizes are unusual, last-minute claims are "even more rare," adding that Allwyn had been actively appealing for the winner to come forward.

Whether the winner chooses to reveal their identity publicly remains entirely their own decision.

Meanwhile, a separate £1million EuroMillions prize from the November 4 2025 draw remains unclaimed, with the winning Millionaire Maker code HPCF58869 - the deadline to claim is midnight on Sunday, May 3 2026.