National Lottery sales and payouts have been paused for around 36 hours from last night, making way for the game’s biggest technology upgrade in 31 years.

Operator Allwyn confirmed that all draw game sales and prize claims in UK shops were halted from 11pm on Saturday, following the Lotto and Thunderball draws.

The National Lottery website and app is also down. Services are expected to resume by "late Monday morning".

Allwyn advised players to buy draw tickets, check results and claim prizes before 11pm on Saturday, as they now that will not be able to log into their online accounts, buy draw tickets or claim prizes – in-store or online – until Monday.

Players will be able to check results until systems go offline and will still be able to buy Scratchcards.

They will also be able to

See Full Page