A weekend computer glitch affected millions of UK lottery fans that were hoping to grab the multi million pound payout in time for the New Year.

For four hours over the weekend, players were unable to purchase lottery tickets online or at lottery terminals across the country, resulting in frustration and anger. “I'm absolutely gutted. What's going on?” said one lottery player in dismay. “I wanted to play my usual numbers but I couldn't. It's so frustrating. It would have been nice to see in the New Year with a lottery win.”

The lottery operator, Camelot, apologized for the incident on Saturday night, which may have brought down the first prize total by almost 800,000 GBP. “Due to a network communication issue this afternoon, players may have experienced difficulties buying National Lottery tickets in store or via the National Lottery website,” said the host of the National Lottery Draw show on BBC1. “We would like to apologize to anyone affected.”