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The state's first live lottery drawing, Carolina Pick 3, starts Friday night, and while the actual drawing will take less than a minute, it takes hours of preparations to get ready. Lottery security officers will spend two hours before and two hours after the drawing completing a 50-point checklist to make sure the numbers chosen are random.
Each night, lottery officials will randomly select one of three machines and three of nine sets of balls to be used in the live drawing. There will also be three tests beforehand to make sure everything works properly.
All sets of balls will be stored in a safe in a secure room at the WRAL studios. To get into the safe and the room, two people must have access cards. Almost every step will be monitored by an external auditor.
"It is very complex. It is a very controlled environment, and the oversight by the auditor is critically important. It is just another level of security we have to enhance the integrity of our games," said Jerry Carter, security director for the lottery.
If there are any questions or concerns about the drawing itself, lottery officials will run as many as five more tests draws after the live drawing. If a worst-case scenario, they could void the drawing and conduct another one with a new machine and new set of balls.
The nightly drawings and can be seen on WRAL and WRAL.com at 11:22 p.m. Tina Seldin Cash, a former reporter for WRAL, will host the live drawings Monday through Friday, while two hosts will rotate on the weekends.
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