ON - “Insiders increase big wins on lotteries - Thirty-nine claim prizes of at least $50,000 since a crackdown on potential fraud” (url)
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, SUN MEDIA QUEEN’S PARK BUREAU, Sat, November 17, 2007, London Free Press
TORONTO — The official number of insiders winning big in the lottery game has gone up during the year since the Ontario Lottery Corp. began cracking down on potential fraud by ticket retailers.
Thirty-nine insiders — identified as ticket retailers or OLG staff — have claimed prizes of $50,000 or more since last November when the lottery corporation began implementing security measures.
Insiders claimed about one in every 20 jackpots of $50,000 or more between November 2006-07. During that same period a year earlier, there were 28 insiders who took home the big prizes.
OLG spokesperson Teresa Roncon said the organization has begun monitoring winners more closely to determine who is an insider and the rise in official insider wins reflects that greater scrutiny.
“When we started asking more detailed questions, we were able to capture more people as insider winners.”
According to OLG figures, there were 1,949 general winners of prizes of more than $10,000 during the last year, including 72 insider winners. Of those prizes, 1,189 were in the $10,000 to $49,999 range. There were 760 big prizes of more than $50,000 of which 39 went to insiders.
continued at http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2007/11/17/4662776-sun.html
