A TRICK of light was to blame for a lottery ball appearing to have two different numbers.
Some watching the Irish Lotto draw on Saturday were left confused when it appeared two numbers were on one ball.
The ball was drawn on the Irish National Lottery’s Lotto Plus 1 game, which has a jackpot of €500,000.
A picture shared on Facebook appeared to show that the 38 ball which was drawn also looked to have the number 33 written on a different side.
One Twitter user posted: “How are chances in the Lotto fair when you put two different numbers on one ball, what kind of stunt is this?"
In a statement, the National Lottery said it wanted to "assure its players of the integrity of Saturday night's Lotto Plus 1 draw".
"A brief reflection of light during filming caused an illusion and some players to think there were two numbers on ball 38. This was not the case," a spokesman said.
"The weight and size of all Lotto balls, and the numbers, are strictly checked in advance of each draw. This process, as well as the draw itself, is independently observed by our auditors KPMG."
