National lottery suspends live TV broadcast but the Lotto results are in

THE National Lottery has moved to clarify why the live TV broadcast of Saturday night's Lotto draw was suddenly abandoned.

The broadcast, presented by Kamal Ibrahim, began as scheduled on RTÉ One television at 7.55pm but the programme was taken off-air before any numbers were drawn.

After an issue arose off camera, viewers were informed the Lotto draws could not be completed due to technical issues. However, ticket holders were advised the draws would be proceeding and that they should hold onto their tickets.

In an update, posted on social media just before 9pm, the National Lottery confirmed the draws had proceeded (off-air) and that the decision to suspend the TV broadcast was due to a "minor technical issue". 

The post added there is no issue with the integrity of the draw which was independently observed: "As is standard procedure, when a technical event occurs, the recording of the draw continues but the live tv broadcast is halted."

The winning numbers for Saturday's Lotto, Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 draws have since been published on the National Lottery website.

For the record the winning numbers were:

Lotto: 8, 12, 16, 20, 26, 35 (Bonus: 23)

Lotto Plus 1: 6, 7, 8, 16, 30, 41 (Bonus: 26)

Lotto Plus 2: 6, 19, 30, 31, 34, 46 (Bonus: 20)