Is Supreme Ventures pre-recording ‘live draws’?
Published:Saturday | April 18, 2020 | 12:16 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
It is no surprise that, amid the COVID-19 crisis, people are still looking forward to the possibility of winning some money. After all, times are getting hard and, for some, the quarantine has left them in complete boredom. So why not? I thought this to myself as I listened to the 8:25 pm draw after the evening news, where I considered whether the lottery draw was an essential service.
I do suspect that the current COVID-19 restrictions have posed a challenge to their usual broadcast, especially the 8:25 pm draw, since we are now under a curfew, commencing at 9 pm until April 21st. However, all six draws are aired each day.
Before this, the curfew beginning at 8 pm did not affect the broadcast nor did the Easter holiday curfew which restricted movement after 3 pm for three days. While this might appear to be a minor issue, it leads me to consider whether the draws are being pre-recorded, which would impede on the games’ fairness.
If they are then pre-recorded, persons will have access to the winning numbers before the draw is aired. What provisions will prevent them from using this information to their advantage? Though I would like to believe that employees of Supreme Ventures operate from an ethical and lawful standpoint, they are not an essential service, yet seem to have not been impacted by the restrictions at all.
In response to the pandemic, Supreme Ventures had urged persons to use the multi-draw option, which allows them to purchase tickets for draws in advance. While this is a good effort to minimise the number of persons in betting locations, more is to be said about how the draw is done, in light of the crisis. I do believe that this assurance is owed to lottery participants, as equitability remains an important trait of betting.
Dwayne Reid