Balkan's
Serbian Lottery Scandal, just an unfortunate mythical accident?
Last week the Serbian people who bought a lottery ticket at the Serbian state lottery witnessed a paranormal activity that can be described as a glimpse into the future. The number of the ball was drawn from the number pool was displayed on the screen before it even got picked. Some might say that this shows that the Serbian state lottery is involved in a dirty scheme in which they pick out the numbers themselves probably so no one will win the grand prize or maybe arrange that a fellow acquaintance will win it. Nevertheless, the person that was in charge of displaying the number on-screen should most likely try his luck, it seems he has a gift to know which is the next drawn number at the lottery.
This mythical event has been scattered by the Director of the State Lottery of Serbia, who declared it was a coincidental technical mistake and there is “not a single mechanism that could be used to influence the result”. Some might argue this but Mr. Aleksandar Vulovic gave his best to explain the situation before following a public outcry resigned “on moral grounds” and the state prosecutor ordered a probe into the case. The ex-Director’s best explanation to this fraud for which he is accused is that, “Instead of typing in the number 27, he entered 21. At that point, I guess after realising what he did, the man entered the number 27. In other words, the number of the ball that had been drawn. Now – it was a coincidence, I say, under some laws of probability, there was the possibility that the ball 21 would be drawn, and it was. If you ask me, there’s nothing strange there as far as I’m concerned.”
However this possibility might occur in Mr. Vulocic’s explanation, the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic didn’t buy the story promised a full investigation into the incident.
“If there were any elements of a criminal act in the draw of numbers in the lottery late on Tuesday, all responsible individuals will suffer the consequences for this,” Mr Vucic said.
According to the Tanjug News Agency, the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued a warrant to the police to investigate those involved with the broadcast.
Since the lottery is hugely popular in poverty-stricken Serbia, particularly among its 1.7 million pensioners and the unemployed, who make up about 20 per cent of the Balkan country’s 7-million population, this situation has made lottery ticket holders questioning the fairness of the Serbian state lottery.
During the investigation, the police seized the lottery machine, balls and computer software and said they intended to broaden their investigation by questioning earlier winners of the lottery.
But police spokesman Nemanja Pantic said he could “neither give details of the probe nor confirm what further steps would be taken.”
Prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said if there had been any criminal activity “these people will be brought to justice” and “The path to prison is very short,”.
Taking a look at the possibility that has been described by the former director of the Serbian state lottery, the accidental displaying of the number and the pure coincidence.
Those held responsible for the unfortunate event included the hostess of Tuesday’s draw, Aleksandra Gudelj, who was made to take a lie detector test, local media reported, after a mismatch of a graphic on the screen and a number drawn sparked claims of a fix.
During the accident, the presenter was visibly uncomfortable as the remainder of the numbers were drawn, and the graphics displaying the numbers were repeatedly turned on and off.
Could there been a possibility that the person in charge of displaying the number was distracted by the provocative dress of the 31-year-old model, Ms. Aleksandra Gudelj, and accidentally made a typo? It can happen to anyone, especially if you are using calculator based keyboard on which there is just a gap of 2 cm’s between 7 and 1?
Either way, this is major uncertainty that is going to influence many lotteries around the world and we certainly hope that the Serbian Police and Prosecutors will bring justice to this case and satisfy the crowd of lottery ticket holders.
Here is the video of the accident broadcasted on live TV:
Balkan's
Albanian president signs new law that restricts gambling
Reading Time: 1 minute
Albanian President Ilir Meta has put his signature in the new gambling bill in the country to make it part of the law. The new law, titled Law No. 75/2018 On Several Amendments and Changes to Law No.155/2015 On Gambling in the Republic of Albania, aims to crack down on all forms of gambling.
The new law will come into force on 1 January 2019.
The proposals of the new legislation were proposed by Prime Minister Edi Rama and were unanimously approved in the Parliament during voting, with opposition members boycotting voting process.
The amended law bans all casinos and other physical gambling facilities from operating in residential areas. Casino gambling will only be allowed at five-star hotels and tourist areas around the country. Slot machine halls and other venues providing gambling services will have to relocate to city outskirts or close in order to comply with the recently approved changes.
Prime Minister Rama did not spare online gambling, as well, in his effort to curb the proliferation of gaming and betting activities in his country. Under the amended law, all betting and casino operations provided remotely will have to shut down.
Source: CasinoNewsDaily
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
Balkan's
Albania’s new betting regulation could bring betting monopoly
Reading Time: 1 minute
Albania is planning to introduce new betting regulation, which includes some radical proposals. First, sports betting will be banned in residential areas. Electronic casinos will also be relocated. The most important proposal is that there could be a state-monopoly on sports betting so that the state can effectively control gambling in the country.
“We are considering the possibility of treating sports betting and betting on races as a state monopoly and allow their operation by specially set up state structures,” a government report says.
Until now, gambling is privately run and generates over €130 million in income yearly, employing around 7,000 people. However, it could soon be partially turned into a state-run activity as sports betting would be controlled by the government, as it happens in many other European Union countries.
According to Prime Minister Edi Rama, upcoming changes – to be enforced as of January 2019 – will limit gambling and generate an extra €700 million in household consumption. However, there’s some opposition from the Democratic Party, which voiced its concern over gambling, and the government, allegedly being linked with organised crime, accusations that have been quickly dismissed by the majority.
Source: FocusGN
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
Balkan's
49 gamblers turn millionaires in 2017 in Bulgaria
National Revenue Agency (NRA) of Bulgaria has reported that 49 gamblers in the country became millionaires in 2017 alone. The agency has also stated that the total winnings from gambling received Bulgarian gamblers in 2017 amounted to BGN 627 million.
The report also indicates that as many as 13,447 Bulgarian gamblers have won more than 5,000 BGN last year.
The biggest winning was 9,815,422 BGN, and the game is not specified. The second biggest winning amounted to BGN 7.9 million, the third place was 5.7 million BGN. The other TOP 10 winners of the ranking have won from 4 to 5 million levs, the NRA reports. A total of 49 Bulgarians have become millionaires due to gambling last year with their winnings over 1 mln BGN.
80 Bulgarians have won between BGN 500,000 and BGN 1 million. Most gamblers, 12,395 people were lucky to receive winnings between BGN 5,000 and BGN 100,000.
The NRA statistics is not segmented by type of gambling because such information was not collected. However, it is clear from the tax agency data that the biggest winning was paid by companies which are the lottery operators.
The National Lottery has paid more than 5,000 levs to 6,209 people, according to official data from the NRA. Eurobet has provided such prizes to 259 people, New Games reported about 672 winners.
Since the lottery operators are required by law to pay out at least 50 per cent of the value of the bets, it can be concluded that turnover of lotteries is about BGN 1 billion in Bulgaria.
Source: E-PLAY Online
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
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