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:
