Includes video report
Technical difficulties wreaked havoc with Thursday evening's Pennsylvania Lottery drawings, forcing the Pick 4 and Pick 5 drawings to occur after the telecast ended.
"No one knows exactly what went wrong. We don't have the information right now. The folks who design the machines are coming down to make sure everything runs smoothly tonight," said lottery spokeswoman Lauren Bottaro.
What viewers saw signifying a problem, which Bottaro said is in accordance with lottery's procedure, is the lottery staff official raising her hand indicating a malfunction of some sort that didn't let the balls rise in the ball machines for the Pick 4 and Pick 5 games.
The winning numbers in those games were chosen off air afterward under the supervision of a certified public accountant, lottery security staff and the lottery drawing official, Bottaro said.
The lottery official actually noticed something was wrong at the start of the telecast when the Pick 2 drawing occurred. She could be seen raising her hand although that drawing and the Pick 3 went off without a hitch.
The delay caused by the malfunctions resulted in the telecast to end before the last number "44" in the Match 6 game was called although viewers watching were able to catch a glimpse of the number on that ball.
Although the lottery may have had some bad luck on the Thursday evening with its Pick 4 and Pick 5 drawings, it was a lucky night for 213 players who played those games.
Bottaro said there were 160 winners who won prizes totaling $59,600 in the Pick 4 game and 53 winners who won prizes totaling $19,150 in the Pick 5 game.
However, the lottery official — who the lottery declined to identify "to protect the integrity of the drawings" and avoid putting them in positions where "they become targets of unnecessary public attention," — had to sustain the embarrassment of having a Pittsburgh area viewer record the drawing and then poke fun at her predicament by adding some comedic text inserts and putting it on YouTube.
VIDEO: Watch the drawings
Wow. Anything can happen with the lottery.
Well, if they had conducted 4 or 5 more pre-tests they might have detected the problem before the drawing... I'm kidding of course.
It was a bizarre drawing, but PA Lottery seemingly handled it well. With physical balls one can more readily detect problems / review the drawing video for anything out of the ordinary. The same can't be said for computerized randomizers.
It's interesting the number of "doubles" that have occurred in PA Pick 2 in just 10 drawings (3 out of 10: 33, 55, and 99). And "9" has been a very commonly occurring first digit ... 4 out of the 5 past Day drawings; twice today with it appearing in both Day and Evening (5 out of 10 draws total). Seems one of those times, in retrospect, where following a "system" (ie. playing "9" as first digit due to it coming up so often) might have worked - instead I played my usual number "50" and have won zilch on Pick 2 so far. But maybe tomorrow will be my day.
she raised her hand during the pic 3 and pic 4 but that was okay........REALLY !!!!
Don't tell me these guys are also having issues with "DEFLATED BALLS".
However, the lottery official — who the lottery declined to identify to avoid putting them in positions where "they become targets of unnecessary public attention,"
Should be the same for us players.
they should have had a re draw on all games to be fair to all other players to me it appears balls were in tube on pick 2 and pick 3 when she raised her hand not the usaally way when you see the balls floating in unit then appear ,as far a first 2 results pay those players and a new redraw for those 2 games also should have been done all I can say it wasn't a fair drawing and a lot of players lost money on what they played
One of our posters on the PA thread is going to be famous...he knows who he is...that's his video.
Okay...at about 30 seconds in the video and I rewinded it a few times - you can see the first 2 balls in the chambers but
there is a delay in the 3rd ball going in and this seems to be when the balls stopped bouncing around.
jojo, the whole thing stinks, you're right. Now tell me how they can let a draw like that stand? I thought their security
and integrity was above question. They are always assuring us that a fair game is taking place. WELL NOT THIS
ONE.
I believe they should re-do the draw but the longer it goes, it's less likely that's going to happen. I wonder if
they just think people will forget? It's a scandal actually. That draw should have been stopped but they need to
let the show go on..and the show is about the money. I wonder just how many PA players are disturbed about this?
Their credibility, by allowing a drawing such as that to stand, is zero in my eyes. I didn't think with a bunch of
pre-draws anyway that their credibility was ever at 100%. I play and hope for the best but don't trust the line of
crap they put out there to appease the masses. There is a lot of money at stake here and a lot of times it taints
better judgement.
OMG dr65 I'm grinning at you right now
Well Said Tinker ........ Well Said
Have you seen the Article on the front page of the Asbury Park Press today 02/01/15 that is reporting the N.J. lottery income is down by $28 Million?
Maybe some folks are forced to stick to a tight budget?
How much of that is from PB or MM, I have'nt played either for months also I only play JC5 when it's over 250G
Pic6 I still play every draw.
I used to spend $19 every week, I just looked at my tix for all Jan. $12 spent on JC5 and $8 on Pic6
Grand total of $20.
Maybe it's the parimutual payouts. Who wants to win $316 for a Pick 3 straight one day, and $484 the next? Especially when most other states are offering $500 for every drawing. IMO the parimutual states are screwing the players over big time.
l say its some mischievous officials kids hiding under those table- playing " unplug the power cords" game.