They talk about the luck of the Irish, but over the weekend the Irish National Lottery had people crying foul.

That’s all because of what officials call “a reflection of light”, a reflection perfectly timed to cause those watching the live broadcast of the draw to doubt the integrity of the lottery.

The second ball that emerged from Saturday night’s Lotto Plus One draw was number 38, but after it landed the reflection of light on the ball made one of its numbers appear to be a 33.

Sky News below:

The change was immediately picked up by players and viewers, who took to Twitter to suggest the apparent rogue digit may have been evidence of a fixed draw.

As the voices of dissent grew, and the hashtags started on social media, the Lotto was forced to issue a statement:

A spokesperson for the National Lottery said it “would like to assure its players of the integrity of Saturday night’s Lotto Plus One draw.”

“A brief reflection of the light during filming caused an illusion and some players to think there were two numbers on ball 38,” it continued. “This was not the case.”

…”The weight and size of all Lotto balls, and the numbers, are strictly checked in advance of each draw,” the Lottery’s statement said.

“This process, as well as the draw itself, is independently verified by our auditors KPMG.”

Isn’t that great – they drop in the fact that it’s audited and verified by KPMG, thinking that actually lends credibility to the situation.

Uh, guys, have you seen the mess going on down our side of the world?

Turns out the main prize for the draw was a paltry €500,000 (R8 million), so we won’t be dabbling. We’re focusing on winning Wednesday’s Powerball lotto, sitting on a cool R1,7 billion.

Join us, live a little – tickets HERE.

Back to the slog and grind.

[source:skynews]