Lottery delay sparks claims of foul play
Print Edition
CHINA’S civil affairs authorities yesterday issued an apology after a welfare lottery draw delay sparked speculation about foul play.
A live broadcast of the Union Lotto (also called the “Double Color Ball”) draw due on CETV1 at 9:30pm on Sunday didn’t take place but there was no explanation for the cancelation on the screen.
Just minutes before, China’s Welfare Lottery Distribution and Management Center issued a statement through its official media outlet www.zhcw.com, saying that the draw could not start on time because of a sales data transmission failure, but would resume once the problem was fixed.
Then, at around 11:40pm, the website announced that a 20-year-old migrant worker in Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong Province had won 100 million yuan (US$15,975).
“The first 100-million yuan winner in Guangzhou is only 20 years old! He is an unmarried youngster from other provinces and works in Guangzhou. He lives at rented apartment and bought the same numbers for about half a year. He said the win is destined.”
However, the announcement triggered widespread speculation that the winner actually worked for China’s welfare lottery.
Some online posts attached a link to a story in the Southern Metropolis Daily in 2013, which carried a remarkably similar description of the jackpot winner at that time which also said that a Guangzhou man was the “first 100-million yuan winner.”
“It was not ‘destined,’ but ‘your say,” was one online comment. Another said the result was “tricky,” and he would no longer be buying lottery tickets as he felt “cheated.”
Chen Rifa, a spokesman of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said abnormal data had appeared during the collection process of Chongqing’s welfare lottery sales system, thus data collection and transmission could not be finished in time.
As a result, the national welfare lottery sales figure could not be calculated, leading to the delay of the draw, Chen said.
Tang Qiwei, office director of China’s Welfare Lottery Distribution and Management Center, said that under lottery regulations, the draw could not be done without a complete nationwide sales figures.
A video of the delayed draw was aired on CETV1 on 1:30am yesterday, and it can also be seen on www.zhcw.com, the center said.
A member of the public, surnamed Zhang, has contacted the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection over the delay, yesterday’s Beijing Times reported.
“The draw has nothing to do with the sales of tickets,” Zhang told the newspaper.
He said he hoped the commission would investigate the fairness of the draw. The commission confirmed it had received Zhang’s complaint.
In March 2011, a data transmission failure at the Beijing Sports Lottery Center caused a delay of two hours.
Public skepticism about the use of lottery funds and the fairness of the draw has been on the increase because information provided by authorities is far from transparent, the Today Morning Express newspaper reported late last year.
Scandals related to lottery centers include revelations last year that a luxury training center owned by the lottery management center had been turned into a hotel for rather than hosting training sessions. And in 2012, it was revealed that the Henan Province Welfare Lottery Center was occupying a 14-story building, though it had fewer than 100 employees.
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