The Higher Public Prosecutor in Belgrade on Wednesday ordered the interior ministry to collect information which would establish whether fraud had been committed during a televised lottery draw earlier in the week.

The problem arose when during a National Lottery live broadcast on Tuesday night, when a graphic on the screen showed the number 21 instead of 27.

Suspicions were raised when the number 21 came up in the very next draw, causing the presenter of the programme to look visibly confused.

Aleksandar Vulovic, the director of the National Lottery, said that the error occurred in the graphic did not affect the validity of the draw.

“The extraction procedure was absolutely regular… it is impossible to influence the outcome of the draw,” Vulovic said on Wednesday.

Vulovic also said that the National Lottery operates transparently and is a major financial benefit to the state budget.

But Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday that the National Lottery was “slightly less bad than catastrophic, but still disastrous”, and said that a private partner might have to be brought in.

Vulevic said however that potential privatisation was not his concern.

“The National Lottery of Serbia was established by the government of the Republic of Serbia and we will respect all the government’s decisions,” he told BIRN.