Motorists were treated to a funny furry gif, but had to go elsewhere to find the Powerball jackpot. [Image: Reddit user hanginwithmrpooper]
For three days, motorists in Oregon were treated to quite the surprising sight when driving past billboards for the Oregon Lottery. Rather than displaying the current jackpot, the LED screens on the Powerball billboards showed an animated furry gif from August 12-14.
Reddit user “hanginwithmrpooper” (a riff on the 1990’s sitcom “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”) first brought the silliness to the public’s attention earlier this week. Another user then figured out that the gif was made and posted on the r/furry subreddit by artist “@SH_4RK” last year. The artist is not responsible for the billboard hijacking.
Though several instances of the hacked LED boards were on Oregon Lottery billboards, they occurred all over the country. People posted other sightings on X, which eventually caught the attention of @SH_4RK, who joked that he should make more gifs.
Meadow Outdoor Advertising, the owner of at least one of the Powerball billboards, said that the LED display is the responsibility of Daktronics. Meadow Outdoor Advertising manager Betsy Hege told KOIN 6 News that her company has no control over the screen and what may or may not end up displayed on it.
We all work hard to prevent hacks and have protocols should it happen.”
“Full digital screens are the responsibility of the owner operator, but the LEDs like this are controlled by the client,” Hege said. “We all work hard to prevent hacks and have protocols should it happen.”
All the Oregon Lottery billboards were fixed the night of August 14.
