Serbian lottery chief resigns amid drawing scandal

Jul 31, 2015, 8:02 am (24 comments)

International

Includes video report

The head of Serbia's national lottery has resigned after a television graphic during this week's draw appeared to predict a winning number.

The incident triggered outrage and dominated front-pages in the Balkan country, where Serbs had hoped the lottery was above the corruption that permeates much of national life.

Police said they have questioned six people during an investigation into whether the winning combination had been set up in advance.

The affair erupted when on the Tuesday evening live broadcast one of the numbers in the winning combination appeared on TV screens before it was actually drawn.

Many Serbs, including pensioners and the jobless for whom the lottery is their one hope of prosperity, watched aghast as the fourth of five balls drawn by the automatic lottery machine came out as 27, but appeared on the TV graphic as 21. The next ball drawn was 21.

The Serbian prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, told a news conference: "If there was any criminal activity these people will answer to the law. The path to prison is very short."

The lottery company, which is state-run, said the draw would stand, blaming a technical error caused by the person who filled out the television graphic. One lottery executive said it was "pure coincidence" that the graphic would mistakenly call the No 21 ball, only for it then to emerge as the next number.

State Lottery Serbia, which has long been run by political appointees, said in a statement that director Aleksandar Vulovic had resigned "on moral grounds", but that he maintained the draw was completely regular.

VIDEO: Watch the drawing

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

itpmguru's avataritpmguru

North Carolina ALWAYS knows what is going to come out so they can minimize their payouts.  Wish someone would look into their "Pre-draw" and what they consider a "Live" draws scheme as it is not live, but taped (no one touches the machines or balls).

zinniagirl's avatarzinniagirl

Ot sure what to think... It is possible that the popcorn ball drawings can be rigged.  But knowing keying errors can occur with a 10 key pad being reverse of a phone keypad. One and  seven being in reverse positions.... Could be an innocent keying error....

MaximumMillions

Maybe they mixed up different feeds?

On the plus side this gives Serbia incentive to join Eurojackpot or Euromillions.

Gleno's avatarGleno

Who knew Serbia has a lottery.

Good to see that Vermont has lottery games tp play.

 

Thinking of...

music*'s avatarmusic*

Hit With Stick Get rid of the political appointees. Hire civil servants. 

  Playing the Lottery is a world wide sensation. Good Luck players !!US Flag

JADELottery's avatarJADELottery

Boy, that magic act went horribly wrong.

They need to get with our magicians here for a few good pointers on how to conceal the combo caper better.

noise-gate

All l am going to say is if there was a crack in that container housing the ping pong balls- that presenter would have dived for cover. That's what I call a "Real Spin".

pickone4me's avatarpickone4me

Did I actually read that right?  They knew what ball was being drawn before it came up, imagine that.  It isn't conspiracy theory anymore, it is now Conspiracy fact.

Edit: Just to add, that now makes me wonder about the Power ball and Mega millions drawings.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by pickone4me on Jul 31, 2015

Did I actually read that right?  They knew what ball was being drawn before it came up, imagine that.  It isn't conspiracy theory anymore, it is now Conspiracy fact.

Edit: Just to add, that now makes me wonder about the Power ball and Mega millions drawings.

Given the speed of those balls, the collision etc- l personally find it hard to believe it was " rigged". That's just my 0.02 cents.

JADELottery's avatarJADELottery

What they wouldn't give for a Computer Picked Drawing right about now, aye?

No Balls!!!

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by JADELottery on Jul 31, 2015

What they wouldn't give for a Computer Picked Drawing right about now, aye?

No Balls!!!

Right...

pickone4me's avatarpickone4me

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jul 31, 2015

Given the speed of those balls, the collision etc- l personally find it hard to believe it was " rigged". That's just my 0.02 cents.

I'm not surprised you would say that, I suppose that illegal immigrant that committed a crime in san fransicso is hard to believe too, huh?

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

 I like the statement about the path to prison is very short. 

Green laugh

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by pickone4me on Jul 31, 2015

I'm not surprised you would say that, I suppose that illegal immigrant that committed a crime in san fransicso is hard to believe too, huh?

Nothing surprises me about your idiocy or asinine posts in general . What on earth has an illegal immigrant committing a crime in San Francisco got to do with the lottery?  One is a Crime, the other a Game, can you tell the difference?

True or False : There are NO illegal immigrants in the State of Wisconsin?

river26

about  25  yrs ago  in  pa.  they  rigged  the  ball  machine.  they  put  mercury  in  the  balls  so 666  came  out  they  got  caught

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

     "WONDER" how long this has been going on, going on, going on, going on, going on???

           Thinking of... $$$ ??? $$$ Thinking of...

itpmguru's avataritpmguru

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Jul 31, 2015

Hit With Stick Get rid of the political appointees. Hire civil servants. 

  Playing the Lottery is a world wide sensation. Good Luck players !!US Flag

I Agree!..........but they can be bought as easily as a politician and likely cheaper.   HEY, maybe this would save us some tax $$! Yes Nod

MonEl

If I remember right, something like that has happened here on the United States at least once or twice.

RedStang's avatarRedStang

This is why i always say  RNGs are no worse then the Bocce balls. The drawings are suppose to be live, not recorded. You have no clue when it was filmed.

THRIFTY's avatarTHRIFTY

Quote: Originally posted by RedStang on Aug 1, 2015

This is why i always say  RNGs are no worse then the Bocce balls. The drawings are suppose to be live, not recorded. You have no clue when it was filmed.

The lottery industry might be doing the same in the USA. 

 

"So number 27 comes out gets mistaken for 21 which then happens to be the next ball?"

 

Cheating no doubt about it.

 

Lottery games will be drawn using RANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS , since the lottery Industry would save money doing it.

pickone4me's avatarpickone4me

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jul 31, 2015

Nothing surprises me about your idiocy or asinine posts in general . What on earth has an illegal immigrant committing a crime in San Francisco got to do with the lottery?  One is a Crime, the other a Game, can you tell the difference?

True or False : There are NO illegal immigrants in the State of Wisconsin?

Those who cast stones shouldn't live in a glass house.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by pickone4me on Aug 1, 2015

Those who cast stones shouldn't live in a glass house.

That's Right. You ought to make sure that your State has Zero illegal immigrants before casting stones or picking a fight with another State or City. If you took the time to research the story before going off topic, you would have read that this particular illegal immigrant was previously deported 5 times. By the way l took the liberty to look up Wisconsin ' s illegal immigrants problem and you guys have your hands full as well, close to 50,000...As you said " Those who cast stones.."

"Practice what you Preach."

temptustoo's avatartemptustoo

I wish it was a short walk to prison for the people in the Iowa lottery... crooked lottery here.

JoeBigLotto's avatarJoeBigLotto

I do not see any fraud what so ever the balls did what they where supposed to do the graphic guy was busy looking at the sexy female host and pushed the wrong graphic numbers this has happened in powerball too when they had a live draw I think in universal the ball was like 59 the graphic guy posted like 56 so this happens alot . the solution is to have three graphic guys do it at the same time and all three of them must agree b4 the number appears live meaning all three have to all push the wrong number to make a mistake just like the code for nuclear weapons lol. Wow the only evidence in this video is the sexy lady she needs to call me so we can talk of other little issues :) And about the number 21 coming out why should anyone be surprised 21 is the perfect number for black jack go figure so don't f... With 21 or 7 they come out when you dare.

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story