Awkward: Lottery ball shown on screen before it was drawn

The chief of Serbia's state lottery has resigned after one of the winning numbers in Tuesday night's draw flashed up in the graphics before it was actually drawn.

The fourth ball drawn during the live broadcast was 27, which the programme's tech team mistakenly put up as 21 on screen and then fixed to read 27.

However, the next ball to be chosen was 21 - all the graphics then disappeared from the screen and briefly reappeared as a row of 27s.

The incident has caused outrage in Serbia, which is plagued by state and business corruption. Prime minister Aleksandar Vučić promised: "If there was any criminal activity these people will answer to the law. The path to prison is very short."

Lottery chief Aleksandar Vulovic said what happened was an honest mistake but he has resigned out of "moral obligation" anyway so police can conduct an investigation.

Police have seized computers and will be questioning employees over the next few weeks to determine whether corruption or a coincidence were to blame for the controversial draw.

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