A government summer camp placement lottery has been rerun after technical problems continued with its online portal, including overfilled and non-consecutive weeks.

A government spokeswoman confirmed that glitches were found after a review of the initial lottery for Camp Connect, offered by Paradise Mobile. Out of the 1,055 who signed up, 169 parents representing 232 children were affected.

It came after an assurance in May by Owen Darrell, the Minister of Tourism, Transport, Culture and Sport, that “camp placements were generated correctly”.

The Department of Sport and Recreation also stated that “at this time, there are no plans to rerun the lottery process”. The root of the issue was said to lie in the wording of notification e-mails and the clarity of instructions presented to parents.

The platform, originally meant to launch in April, was delayed for fine-tuning, but parents have continued to struggle with registering their children.

Most recently, accessing the official portal generated a maintenance notice stating that “some users may currently experience intermittent issues when accessing the Camp Connect platform”.

The response added: “Our technical teams are actively working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and service is expected to stabilise soon.”

Camp registration, which went fully online in 2022, was a tense time for parents. Registrations would close within minutes because the camps hit maximum capacity, typically followed by lengthy waiting lists.

Camp Connect was launched in 2023 and allocated extra funding the following year, but a sharp rise in sign-ups continued to burden the system.

The bookings were thrown into chaos last year, which Mr Darrell attributed to a “clerical error” in which some camp titles were incorrectly listed.

Parents vented their frustrations with the system this week online. One, stating they had been informed that their places were secure, wrote: “The conflicting information and lack of communication have caused unnecessary anxiety for many families, including my own.

“With only a few weeks remaining before school ends, parents are now left scrambling to secure alternative arrangements for the rest of the summer.”

Another branded it “an absolute mess”, maintaining that the buck was being passed on to the web development team. Parents also complained of a lack of e-mail notifications.

One wrote: “I got acceptance offer for both my children and then Saturday they call to say they had to redo the lottery and there are no longer any spaces; they did not qualify.”

Parents said selections appeared assigned with the requisite fees paid, only to end up with mixed messages over whether the selection had gone through.

Another said: “With school ending in the coming weeks, this is completely unacceptable at this point and there’s absolutely no communication.”

Some posts stated they were informed the lottery had been redone over the weekend.

Diallo Rabain, the Minister of the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, responded: “We understand the disappointment and frustration this situation has caused for affected families.”

He thanked department staff, who he said had scrambled over the weekend to review placements, identify available spaces and minimise disruption.

Mr Rabain added: “While this outcome is regrettable, the decision to rerun the lottery was necessary to ensure a fair and consistent process for all applicants.” He said work would continue to improve the service, with parents to be updated.

• Families requiring assistance can contact osshelp@gov.bm or call 907-6767