It’s an expensive dumpling. While presenting the draw for the American MegaMillions lottery on Tuesday, the presenter simply announced… a wrong number. According to CNNeverything went smoothly until the draw of the Mega Ball: a 9 that John Crow confused with a 6. Result: he gave false hope to many players.
As specified BFM-TV, a small bar placed on the yellow ball makes it possible to distinguish the two figures. In this case, the host does not seem to have seen it since he announced a 6. A sort of complementary number, this joker makes it possible to multiply the winnings. Finding the correct number of the Mega Ball thus makes it possible to obtain 2, 4, 10, 100 or 10,000 dollars depending on whether it is accompanied by one, two, three or four “white balls” with the correct numbers.
5,538 dollars wrongly paid
If the jackpot of 86 million dollars put into play that evening was not won, this mistake nevertheless had important consequences. The next day, several tickets bearing the wrong Mega Ball number were validated and their holders paid. A total of $5,538 was paid out to players with bad tickets. The lottery has already announced that it has recovered the payments made.
In a video of the scene, MégaMillions has also added a caption confirming the blunder of the presenter and apologizing to the players. This Friday, a new draw for this lottery broadcast in 45 American states will put $99 million into play.