Atlantic Canada - “Lottery boss hangs onto job”
Report finds retailer-wins high, security low, By DAVID JACKSON Halifax Herald Provincial Reporter, Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Atlantic Lottery Corp.’s president seems to be on solid ground for now, though her counterpart in British Columbia is gone after a scathing report on a lack of lottery security.
Stirling (Ginger) Breedon, chairman of Atlantic Lotto’s board of directors, said Monday the board hasn’t discussed whether president and CEO Michelle Carinci should keep her job in light of the higher-than-probable rate of retailer wins and lax security dating back to 2001, as found in recent reviews.
“We believe we need to fix the things that need to be done, both technically and in terms of policies and processes, and we’re working with the team we have in place to do that, so that’s where we’re at,” said Mr. Breedon.
“She’s doing exactly what the board wants her to do in terms of moving forward on all the recommendations and putting into place the things that will ensure our players have their just prizes when they win. That’s our interest.”
The British Columbia Lottery Corp. fired its president and CEO last Friday, just days after the province’s ombudsman released a report showing retailers were winning too often and that corporation officials weren’t doing enough to find out why.
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The Atlantic Lotto board had commissioned an audit of the corporation after an internal review released in March found that retailers won prizes of at least $25,000 at a rate 10 times higher than probabilities said they should have.
The audit by KPMG Forensic showed even more retailers won big prizes. It also found eight retailers had their selling privileges revoked but some were later reinstated.
The corporation has given files on retailers’ wins to police. In all, 85 retailers and their employees won a total of $14 million.
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Two more reviews of Atlantic Lotto are coming, one initiated by the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour and another by agencies that are shareholders in the corporation on behalf of the four Atlantic provinces. Atlantic ombudsmen also plan to monitor steps the corporation takes to fix the problems.
Lottery corporations across the country have undergone internal and external reviews since CBC TV’s The Fifth Estate aired a story last fall about an elderly Ontario man cheated out of his winning lottery ticket, and high rates of retailer wins in that province.
Ontario’s ombudsman released a report in March that concluded the province’s lottery corporation was “fixated on profit rather than public service.” The president and CEO of Ontario Lottery and Gaming resigned just prior to the report’s release.
( djackson@herald.ca)
© 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
