Aleksandar Vulovic, czar of the Serbian state lottery, has resigned from his position after winning numbers were mysteriously broadcast on television before they had been drawn.
Allegations of fraud abound on every hand following the incident, reports the Associated Press.
In what was presented to the public as a live broadcast on Tuesday evening, one of the numbers in the winning combination was revealed before the number appeared to be drawn.
"That sparked accusations that the numbers had been chosen in advance," according to AP.
Vulovic has denied there was any dodginess and explained that the incident was due to a "technical mistake".
He added that he was stepping down from his position, not out of guilt, but out of "moral obligation".
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 05 2015, @05:21PM
Besides, if you play the lottery expecting anything other than to be screwed over, something is messed up in your head.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @05:38PM
So the lottery is just like voting your conscience?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Wednesday August 05 2015, @10:12PM
Only if you're voting in an election that uses "first past the post", or some other vote-counting technique that encourages strategic voting. There are alternatives, for example: http://www.cgpgrey.com/politics-in-the-animal-kingdom/ [cgpgrey.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @11:04AM
Not quite - not playing lottery at all is an obvious win, though a small one. In voting you are screwed no matter what.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday August 06 2015, @12:39AM
That is true, but how many play the lottery of the stock market with the semi-expectation of fair access? The vast majority of the public do not know that the sure profits are reaped when the Wall Street banks take companies public. The vast, vast majority of the public, even the educated, sophisticated ones, do not know what "front-running" a trade is, but it happens thousands of times per second, every day. None of the public has any idea that the pension funds that they involuntarily pay into through their wages are invested in hedge funds, junk bonds, and other risky vehicles, but they certainly are.
I used to be a risk manager for a hedge fund. I know in how many ways the rubes robbed on a daily basis. It's sickening. It's more sickening that the ones commanding the theft don't even understand the math of the theft, and yet they posture like theirs is the biggest dick in the room. And at the end of the day, everyone is poorer save them, who have produced nothing of value and have added nothing to planet Earth for their having been here.
If the average American had the math education of the average German, every banker would have been hanging from a lamp post far before now.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Leebert on Thursday August 06 2015, @01:35AM
So if I play it just for fun, I'm screwed up in the head?
If you're doing it as an investment strategy, you're an idiot. If you're doing it because it's fun, well then, glad you're having fun.
You don't call people idiots for playing skee ball because the prizes they get from the tickets you win aren't worth what they payed to play the game, right?
Now I will grant you that a huge percentage of the people playing the lottery ARE in fact idiots. But there's also a very large contingent of people who have the money to waste, and think it's fun to carry around a ticket dreaming about the possibilities.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday August 06 2015, @03:00AM
If you don't expect to be screwed over, yes, you're fucked in the head. Some people are into being screwed over.