Canada - CBC ’s Fifth Estate episode “Twice Lucky”
Description of show:
“It all started with an unlikely hero, Bob Edmonds of Coboconk, Ontario.
Last year, the fifth estate told you his story: how Edmonds was cheated out of his $250,000 lottery winnings by a store clerk and then was cheated again by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation when they made him go through a four-year court battle to get his money. Bob Edmonds eventually got that money, but his case was not unique.
The story sparked an investigation by Ontario’s Ombudsman, Andre Marin. In two subsequent updates, the fifth estate revealed more problems within the lottery system as well as other suspicious cases, including one Super 7 jackpot worth $12.5 million.
The $12.5 million jackpot
Kathleen Chung didn’t want to talk about the lottery win with the fifth estate.In Twice Lucky, Linden MacIntyre tells the story of that 2003 $12.5 million jackpot and of the young woman, who walked in to the OLG’s offices to claim the prize, gave inconsistent stories to lottery officials and couldn’t remember any details about her ticket. Lottery officials were concerned enough to hold on to the prize money, but failed to do a thorough investigation. When no one else came forward to claim the prize after one year, the OLG paid $12.5 million to someone they suspected of lying.
This case so shocked the Ombudsman that he highlighted it in his report of March, 2007. The next day, the Ontario Minister responsible for lotteries, David Caplan, ordered the OPP to investigate the $12.5 million jackpot as well as other “insider” win cases. So, what has happened since that investigation was ordered? Find out on the fifth estate’s on-going investigation into retailer troubles at the OLG.”
