The Romanian Lottery has cancelled the first two draws this year, the one that was supposed to take place on January 4 and the one on January 8, due to the lack of a contract for the IT system, according to local Digi24.

However, according to the Lottery, the two draws were not cancelled, as the mass media reported, and the first draw this year will take place on January 11. The Lottery's representatives said that this delay was due to marketing reasons.

Usually, the draws were organized in the first days of the year, but now there was a break of 12 days, reports Digi24.

On December 29, the Ministry of Public Finance announced that the Romanian Lottery will no longer extend the contract with Intralot, the company that managed the software needed to conduct the lottery’s games. A day later, the Lottery announced that the draws will be resumed on January 11.

The last two draws in 2014 were on December 30. The Lottery paid some EUR 640,000 in prizes in the last special New Year’s draws.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com