By Sue-Ann Wayow
OPPOSITION Senator David Nakhid has issued a pre-action protocol letter to the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) concerning a suspicious Play Whe Draw.
Through his attorney Kiel Taklalsingh, he is calling for a thorough investigation and report into the matter.
It is alleged that the Play Whe #22596 was pre-drawn before the live broadcast of the Mega Ball result as some reported seeing the results that are televised live, flash on the screen on November 15.
This contradicts with the NLCB statute that it must conduct its affairs and in particular its lottery games in a fair and transparent manner.
According to the letter dated on Tuesday, during the anticipated 4 pm live broadcast, the full results of the Mega Ball draw were displayed on screen before the customary live draw. The flashed graphic showed that there would be two white balls and then one red ball drawn as the winning draw although at the time it was displayed only one white ball was drawn.
Even though the graphic was immediately removed from the on-screen display of the broadcast, the subsequent draw yielded the same result previously shown on-screen.
The letter states, “In essence, despite NLCB purporting to conduct a live stream of the Mega Ball Draw, TTT appeared to broadcast the results of the purported live draw prior to the completion of same. The only plausible inference from such a series of events is that there was a predetermined outcome for the Mega Ball Draw which was not carried out live as is customary or as was advertised.”
Although TTT has since released a statement apologising for an “error” and reassuring the public of the integrity of the draws, it did not explain how the winning combination could have possibly been known prior to the purported live draw and how it could have been displayed while the draw was being broadcasted, the letter states.
The letter addressed to the NLCB’s secretary and copied to its chairman Eustace Nancis, states, “As you would no doubt appreciate, the continued success and participation in these National Lottery games depends on public trust and confidence in the integrity of these games. The public’s confidence in all NLCB’s games have been arguably undermined by the events outlined in this letter which are in the public domain and therefore provides sufficient justification for the conduct of an investigation and report pursuant to Section 7 of the (National Lotteries) Act.”
Should NLCB fail to launch a thorough investigation, Nakhid would be forced to file judicial review proceedings in order to protect the public’s interest in the conduct of NLCB’s affairs, Taklalsingh wrote.
