National Lottery app is DOWN leaving UK players in limbo

The National Lottery stopped working for people across the UK on Thursday morning

Brits were left in a state of frustration this morning as the National Lottery app crashed.

Down Detector, a website that monitors service outages, has seen a surge in reports from users unable to access the lottery app. Those trying to visit the main page of the site are met with an apologetic notice informing them that the National Lottery's online services are "temporarily unavailable" and requesting patience.

The notice states: "Our online services are temporarily unavailable. Sorry about that we'll get you back in the game as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, app users are confronted with a message advising them to adjust their internet settings and directing them to the National Lottery's official website.

This message says: "Sorry, our app is unable to load for you. It could be a parental block is set with your Internet Service Provider. This would prevent you from accessing gambling websites and apps. Please update your settings and then reload the app. If this fails, please visit our website to play.", reports the Mirror.

According to Down Detector's maps, the bulk of the outage reports are emanating from London, with Manchester not far behind. Additional clusters of reports are emerging nationwide, indicating the widespread impact of the technical difficulties.

An Allwyn spokesperson said: “The National Lottery website and apps were closed overnight for planned maintenance and re-opened again just before 8am on Thursday. We appreciate players bearing with us and wish them the best of luck in this weekend’s draws.

Following a successful Wednesday for the lottery, which saw the release of numbers for a hefty £5.2 million jackpot, and ahead of another draw tonight, there have been some outages. The September 18 draw resulted in Britons winning a variety of smaller prizes, with no one claiming the top jackpot after the winning numbers were announced.

The winning numbers were 07, 20, 33, 50, 51, and 57, with the bonus number being 44. Although no players managed to win the maximum total, one lucky individual did bag £1 million.

This was won by matching five out of six numbers along with the bonus ball. Two other people won smaller amounts, with one person securing £350,000 for matching all five numbers in the Lotto Hotpicks which uses the same numbers.

Another player walked away with £13,000 after matching four out of five numbers.

No one claimed the top prize of £500,000 in Wednesday's Thunderball draw, which is only available to those who can match five numbers and the Thunderball. However, one Briton did win the £5,000 prize for matching five numbers.