Missed winnings

ORF number mix-up: lotteries cause chaos

Live pictures from the studio are only available for regular draws. The controversial special draw on Friday, November 14, was covered - briefly and incorrectly - as an inset.(Bild: Günther Pichlkostner)

How the lotteries, ORF and players got into a mess during last Friday's draw - and why (almost) everything seems to be in order in the end. The "Krone" knows the curious details ...

A "number twist" is currently causing astonished eyes and pulsating nerves among lottery players all over the country. While the special draw on November 14 - as confirmed by a notary - went ahead with the winning numbers 04, 05, 08, 23, 27, 44 and the additional number 17, apparently different numbers appeared on ORF recordings.

What followed was a brief phase of collective confusion. While teletext and the official win2day platform showed the correct numbers, ORF apparently presented an incorrect result in the insert.

A big win is at stake!
A faux pas that can sometimes cause nervousness in the world of gambling - after all, for some a small dream is at stake, for others a possible million. 

One desperate player from Burgenland explained in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper: "Instead of a four, I only had a three, what's the point?"

All seven numbers in ascending order
As lottery spokesperson Günter Engelhart confirms, this is clearly a technical error in the ORF insert. "The numbers on win2day - notarized - are the correct ones. Unfortunately, there was an irregularity in the data transmission from us to ORF on Friday evening for the design of the insert. All seven numbers drawn were mistakenly transmitted in ascending order, and not just the 'six correct numbers', and the seventh number was transmitted separately as an additional number," it says.

Players can therefore breathe a sigh of relief: No endless chaos in the Lotto universe - just a stray info box on TV. So next time, Mr. and Mrs. Austrian will have to take a closer look at whether and how the winning numbers are communicated. In any case, the lotteries promise to do better: they will take precautions to ensure that this does not happen again ... without guarantee!