Just when the Nine Network probably thought life couldn’t get any more
miserable, along came Monday night’s Lotto draw on TV in NSW… no…
er… actually… due to a technical glitch make that a repeat of
Saturday night’s Lotto draw – the one worth $19 million and not the
mere million bucks that’s usually up for grabs on Mondays.

Nine blamed a “technical hiccup,” according to the Sydney switchboard.
But how could this happen to a “live” draw? The only explanation is
that they record the draw and then put it to air. Therefore the wrong
one was put to air, or somehow the wrong numbers ended up in the right
draw?

The NSW Government’s Lotteries mob need to have a quick inquiry into
just what happened. Nine last year delayed the Lotto numbers draw by ten
minutes, from 8:30pm to 8:40pm Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays to
force viewers to stay with the show on air. That was in an effort to
boost viewer numbers.

It was thought that showing the numbers at 8:30pm allowed viewers to change channels after the draw. Then along came Desperate Housewives
on Seven at 8:30pm Mondays and the timing of the draw became
irrelevant. Viewers stayed with Seven or switched there rather than
stay on Nine for Eddie McGuire at 8:30pm and his Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and the Lotto draw.