National Lottery (United Kingdom) the games. The majority of National Lottery draws take place on live television. The first National Lottery show (entitled "The National Lottery Live: The First Draw") was at 7 pm on Saturday 19 November 1994. Presented by Noel Edmonds, this was an hour long special, in which 49 contestants competed to become the first person to start the draw, the winner being 18-year-old Deborah Walsh. The first number to be drawn was 30. For its first few years, the TV show took the title "The National Lottery Live", and was presented mainly by Anthea Turner or Bob Monkhouse. Other notable
National Lottery (Ireland) its inception until 27 February 2014, the National Lottery was operated under licence by the An Post National Lottery Company (), which was 80 percent owned by Ireland's state-owned postal services provider An Post and 20 percent by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. In 2011, in response to Ireland's financial crisis, the government included the National Lottery licence on a list of state assets that could be sold to assist the public finances. In April 2012, the government announced that it would sell the National Lottery licence for a period of 20 years for an upfront payment, while