ON - Ontario lotto corp considers disclaimers on scratch tickets
Last Updated: Thursday, November 30, 2006 | 10:21 AM ET
CBC News
Ontario’s Lottery and Gaming Corporation is now considering printing disclaimers on scratch and win tickets, in light of criticisms that current practices are unfair and misleading to the consumer.
Under the current system, scratch tickets continue to be sold even after the top prizes have been won and players have no chance of winning the jackpot. While consumers may call a toll-free hotline to learn what prizes are left, critics have said the OLGC should be more transparent in its practices.
In B.C., Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces, lottery corporations print disclaimers on scratch tickets that explain the top prizes may have already been claimed.
(CBC) Proposed changes would see the OLGC print a disclaimer on the tickets, explaining that some of the prizes may have already been claimed.
"I’ve started to explore some of the different practices by different jurisdictions on these kinds of issues," said George Sweny, OLGC’s senior vice president.
The Gambling Watch Network, which has filed a complaint with Ontario’s ombudsman, said lottery corporations should be more direct with players about their odds of winning.
"It is only a fair game, it seems to me, if the consumer has every chance of knowing what exactly the odds are in that particular play," spokesman Brian Yealland said.
In B.C., Quebec, and the four Atlantic provinces, lottery corporations already print such disclaimers on the backs of scratch tickets. Retailers in these six provinces also pull tickets from the marketplace once the top prizes have been won.
Sweeny said the OLGC is reviewing these procedures, which are also used by some U.S. lottery organizations.
"We are certainly going to explore that and we will monitor it and we will understand within our organization just what our capacity is to do that," he said.
Fifth Estate report
The province’s ombudsman, Andre Marin, has launched an investigation into OLGC practices, following a report by CBC’s The Fifth Estate questioning the suspicious number of retailers and clerks who have won lotteries.
Last month, it was revealed that in the past seven years Ontario clerks and retailers have claimed lottery victories nearly 200 times. University of Toronto statistician Jeffery Rosenthal said the number should have been closer to 57, and was a nearly impossible statistical anomaly.
The Fifth Estate probe stemmed from a lawsuit involving Coboconk, Ont., senior Bob Edmonds and the OLGC. Edmonds alleged that his winning ticket had been fraudulently claimed at a local store and eventually reached a settlement with both the retailer and the OLGC.
After the report aired, the lottery corporation announced measures such as more electronic devices for players to check their own tickets, rules prohibiting clerks from handling a ticket unless it has been signed on the back by a customer and video screens that would face customers.
CBC News later raised questions about the high number of retailers and clerks claiming wins on scratch tickets. Internal data from the OLGC indicate that at one point, retailers and clerks claimed wins on scratch tickets 10 per cent of the time.
According to OLGC documents, investigators routinely checked for "pin-pricking" — where a scratch ticket card is scratched very lightly to see if it contains a winning code — while looking into allegations of insider wins.
Duncan Brown, CEO of the lottery corporation, announced last week that he’s considering the idea of banning the purchase of lottery tickets by clerks who sell them.
Copyright © CBC 2006
