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Updated 9.20
THE HEAD OF the National Lottery’s new licensee faced a two-hour grilling yesterday about the problems which have plagued its systems since it took over operations.
Much of the questioning at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform focussed on the network failure which led to the Lotto draw being cancelled last month for the first time in its 28-year history.
But retailers also took the opportunity to air concerns new operator Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) was paying out less money from its takings – and that it was planning other unpopular changes to maximise its profits.
The company paid €405 million for its 20-year licence to run the freshly-privatised National Lottery.
Retail Grocery Dairy & Allied Trades Association (RGDATA) director-general Tara Buckley told the committee rumours were flowing in the trade that PLI planned to make it harder to win the lottery by adding numbers to the draw.
She also said retailers feared the company would raise ticket prices to boost income.
And the winner is…
This was PLI chief executive Dermot Griffin’s response when he was asked for a yes-or-no answer on whether the company was currently looking at the changes:
We will look separately at game development when we have finished our transition programme. There are a load of game development plans that we have in terms of the license.”
And this:
We will move to game development once we have finished the transition. In terms of my board, what I have is a strong mandate to implement the transition programme and we will look separately…”
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, who posed the questions, didn’t appear impressed at the vague responses.
In reply to perceptions the company was paying out less in prizes since it took over, Griffin was also a bit opaque.
He told the committee PLI was required under its licence to pay out at least 50% of its takings in prizes but the actual level returned to punters “was higher than that”.
The company’s licence terms mean it has to give out two-thirds of its income after prizes to “good causes”, with the remainder going towards its operating costs and any balance making up its profits.
The odds of picking all six numbers in the National Lottery correctly in a single, €1.50 play currently stand at over 8 million to one.
Jackpots are divided between the winners across all prize tiers with the approximate amount going to anyone picking all the numbers successfully worth less than half the total.
First published 6.05am
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We called it curly kale when we were kids.
Superfoods: what a triumph of marketing.
I think I’ll have some kale now – Dunno what I’m going to do with the 106% surplus of Vitamin A though.
Aye, it probably has the same nutrition as broccoli or any other dark green vegetable.
Exactly – no such thing as a “superfood” – all just marketing bollix.
Anyone for a nice Kale and Goji berry stew?
The minute you read the word antioxidants, you know it’s all complete nonsense.
This garbage is so prevalent now due to “nutritionists” who make money from making the simplest thing in the world (eating healthy), sound complex.
Like all those crazy people who think downing litres of h2o will somehow detoxify your cells. Arrant rubbish. Water cannot be forced in and out of cells by drinking water. It just makes you pee
Dark greens are high in vitamin k which thickens the blood, so people on blood thinner meds need to use less of this stuff
Took Kale in a smooty once. Spent next morning crapping like never before. 6 or 7 times had to go in space of a few hours. Food poisioning wasnt as bad.
You would want to be thick as a plank if you didn’t know kale is good for you. Yumm
People who eat kale die every day.
Back in the day it was used as cattle feed.
Re-post in October,if ya can..
I make kale crisps, just add a bit of salt and vinegar and shove them in the oven! Grand job!
I would be most grateful if the author could define a superfood? It’s a bit like organic. When I did chemistry, organic referred to the particular carbon based nature in organic chemistry, not a fad marketing term. However, I gotta hand it to the person who was trying to sell goji berries to no avail and came up with the idea “hey boss, how about if we put the word super in front of food”.
Another fad “super food”. Like quinoa.
I work a fruit and veg and order a case of kale everyday. Just thought someone might want to know . Wouldn’t touch the stuff myself looks like the devils lettuce but mangoes! Now they’re delish
I’m currently sitting on the toilet.
Is “right now” really the best time to be eating kale?
Vegan with milk added? Really?
Why don’t they just admit it ? – they’ve made an error in their Kale inventory top-up this week ‘ to the power of 10′!
But….. it’s revolting! :(
The word “this”, being a clickable link, redirects you to the ‘clean’ & vegan recipe. A short version of “click here to…..”
In reply to Dec O’Farrell.
have your say