The Ministry of Finance said yesterday that uniform invoice lottery drawings were fair and transparent after a local magazine reported that TV broadcasts of the drawings were pre-recorded.
The latest issue of the Chinese-language Next Magazine said yesterday that the winning numbers were drawn before it was broadcast on TV and that the manual drawing devices were outdated, using numbered balls in different sizes.
The ministry said the drawings were pre-recorded to ensure the TV program would run “smoothly,” adding that “the process is absolutely open, fair and transparent,” and “cannot be questioned.”
“Each drawing is supervised by representatives from the General Chamber of Commerce (全國商業總會), the National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會), the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (工商協進會) and local tax offices,” the ministry said in a statement.
Uniform invoices are a form of standardized receipts issued by registered businesses in the country. They also serve as lottery tickets with bi-monthly draws run by the government, with a grand prize of up to NT$2 million (US$62,400).
Asked about the credibility of lottery draws in pre-recorded videos, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said: “The point is not whether the process was a live broadcast, but whether it was fair or not.”
Next Magazine said the manual drawing devices were so outdated that sometimes the numbered balls got stuck or took a long time to drop, and criticized the ministry for failing to update the equipment.
Lain Kuen-yown (連坤耀), deputy head of the ministry’s printing house, told reporters that the drawing machines, which have been in use for more than 20 years, were still in good condition, adding that they are only used six times a year.
Lain said the ministry needed to assess the cost of changing the drawing machines to see if it was worthwhile to replace them.
He said a review report would be released before the next draw on Sept. 25.
“We need to know if there’s still anyone who can make such drawing machines. If it is going to cost millions of dollars, is it worth it? If the machines can’t be counterfeited, do we still need to replace them?” Lain said.
The ministry has commissioned the recording of the lottery draws to a local communications company, with the one-year contract expiring in November.
Asked about rumors that the communications company was a dummy firm, Lain said: “I haven’t heard anything about this until today.”
“We will look into the background of the company,” he said, adding that the ministry only commissions qualified and legitimate companies to do the recording.
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