00:00To the awe and ire of punters, the Lotto Plus draw last evening for a jackpot of $4.753 million did not go unhitched as it had for many years prior.
00:13An unlatched door led to numerous balls flying out of the chamber.
00:19The host announces technical difficulties.
00:22Then the chamber was reloaded with presumably the balls which took an early exit before the draw restarted.
00:30We tried to slow down the video but got a strobing effect and were unable to accurately tally the number of balls that went flying.
00:38But in total, 10 balls were returned to the chamber.
00:42Dean Persaud, president of the Online Gaming Agents Association of Trinidad and Tobago, says
00:47this is just another episode that demonstrates the incompetence of both the NLCB and the TV station in handling the draws,
00:56reflecting on an incident last year when the result of a draw was flashed across the screen before the actual draw took place.
01:05He says, quote,
01:06That was dismissed as human error, as I suspect this episode will be as well, end quote.
01:13Persaud notes, however, the severe effect on the integrity of the games when these things occur and shatter public confidence.
01:20He says, quote,
01:21Let's face it, a different set of numbers could have been called if it was done right and a winner could have been declared or a different winner, end quote.
01:31Additionally, he says players and agents alike are saying that there is no guarantee that all balls were retrieved and placed in the basket.
01:40His points were, in fact, mirrored by comments posted to Facebook, like Anita, who said,
01:46How we know if they find all the balls.
01:49Kent says this is unbelievable.
01:51The woman just pick up the balls and throw it back in.
01:54How we know she had missed one.
01:56There should have been an on-air count of all the balls.
02:00Joanne agrees.
02:01A silver lining, suggests Avinash.
02:04As he says, we are able to be certain that it is a live draw.
02:08We contacted Kestan Nanku of the NLCB, but he advised us he resigned from the board when the election results were declared.
02:16Nanku suggested we reach Finance Minister Davindranath Tanku, but he did not respond to our queries.
02:22Our Vashita Mori, Rupnarein, TV6 News.
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