When you say "native" I assume you mean "file", as "native" is no longer an option in Laravel 4.1. If you upgraded from 4.0 to 4.1 you should double-check that you have made the right modifications to your app/config/session.php file.

What value do you have for 'lifetime' in your app/config/session.php file? If it is set to zero then that might explain why you ended up with the behaviour you described (although it would only be 100% consistent if lottery was set to 1,1).

I was having problems with users randomly getting logged off my site and eventually figured it was because I had 'lifetime' set to zero (because this was how you set the cookie to be session-only in 4.0). Although it might not be the direct cause of your problem, I'm sure it is related, so reading this might be of some help:

http://yetanotherprogrammingblog.com/content/laravel-40-41-session-configuration-problem-solved

Also, check that you don't have a specific session.php file for production and try deleting your cookies and starting fresh.

Thanks for your anser James! I've read your article. I'm afraid our problems differ. In my case for every request a new session is created. This happens even when a use the database driver. But all this happens only on production and not on development.

I indeed did an upgrade form Laravel 4.0 to 4.1. Maybe something got corrupted, because my session.php still mentioned 'native' instead of 'file'. I think I will try again with a clean Laravel 4.1. installation.