BC - “BC Lotteries board should be fired too, Enforcement branch is also in need of a cleanout”
Michael Smyth, The Province
Published: Sunday, June 03, 2007
The people who run the government’s $2-billion gambling business became aware five years ago that lottery players might be getting ripped off by dishonest ticket sellers.
You might be wondering: Why on earth didn’t they do something about it? After all, the whole scandalous episode cost the top gambling guy his $442,000-a-year job last week.
But, hey, let’s cut them some slack. After all, this hard-bitten vice-squad had bigger fish to fry.
Who cares about a few crooked retailers swiping lottery jackpots when the gamblin’ grannies of Galiano Island were on the loose?
In 2005, the B.C. Gaming and Enforcement Branch were tipped off to an illicit gambling den operating on the idyllic Gulf island.
About a dozen little old ladies were gathering once a week at McKechnie’s Grand Central Emporium to drink tea, eat homemade pie and play bingo — without the $1.50 licence!
The government’s flying squad swept into action.
Four undercover agents were dispatched to the island, where they booked into a five-star waterfront B&B locally renowned for its luxurious down quilts and gazebo hot tub.
Cleverly posing as visiting real-estate buyers, they penetrated the tea shop and watched the elderly degenerates feed their filthy unlicensed bingo habit.
The next day, after a delicious organic breakfast, they confronted the owner of the emporium, reduced her to tears and slapped her with a $288 fine.
Rich Coleman, then the solicitor-general, was asked whether the four-man sting operation was an insane example of bureaucratic overkill and an unbelieveable waste of taxpayers’ money.
“The law is the law,” the grim-faced top cop replied.
Beware, you gambling grannies. Lottery retailers might be stealing your winning tickets from under your noses, but try to play bingo without a licence in this province and they’ll come down on you like Miami Vice.
I remind you of this bizarre little episode to illustrate the government’s total dysfunction when it comes to policing gambling.
The B.C. Gaming and Enforcement Branch is the same outfit that issued a misleading, error-riddled report last fall saying everything was fine with the province’s lottery-retailing system.
That didn’t satisfy B.C. Ombudsman Kim Carter, who issued last week’s devastating report revealing that the system is wide open to theft and fraud by unscrupulous ticket sellers.
The bottom line: Firing lottery chief Vic Poleschuk was the correct move — though at first defending him and then letting him twist in the wind all week shows just how dazed and confused these people are.
To restore confidence, more heads must roll. The B.C. Lotteries board should be fired, too, and then the granny-hunting enforcement branch should be cleaned out and overhauled.
Anything less would show the government cares more about its own soaring gambling profits than protecting players being fleeced of their winnings.
And even my own bingo-loving granny would say that’s just not right.
Listen to Nightline B.C. with Michael Smyth every weeknight at 7 p.m. on CKNW, AM 980 E-mail: msmyth@direct.ca
© The Vancouver Province 2007
© 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
