Lottery opening cancellation due to technical reasons

BEIJING -- The cancellation of a planned televised lottery draw was due to technical reasons, China's welfare management center said on Monday, in an effort to reassure those who cast doubt over the credibility of the lottery industry after the incident.

The "dual-colored ball" prize draw was originally scheduled to be aired at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday but was abruptly canceled. After nearly two hours, the winning numbers were released on the official Weibo account of the lottery management center.

In a statement to Xinhua, the center said that the accident was caused by a lottery sales transmission glitch, which was first reported by Chongqing lottery management authorities.

The incident led many Internet users doubting the credibility of the lottery system and questioning how lottery sales were related to draw.

The management center said they aggregate lottery sales nationwide before every opening session to guarantee the justice and equity of the lottery system, which is also an international practice as seen in EuroMillions and Powerball.

This is not the first time for China's lottery industry to draw suspicions. China allows lottery winners to choose anonymity when picking up their winnings. Last year, the jackpot of the sports lottery ticket, about 497 million yuan ($9.5 million) was picked up by a man wearing Mickey Mouse costume.