Independent Audit Ordered on B.C. Lottery System

Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:38 PM

Solicitor General John Les has ordered an independnent audit following the report from Ombudsman Kim Carter on ther B.C. Lottery Corp's Prize Payout Process.

The report "Winning Fair and Square," noted several gaps in the system. The report was called for after questions were raised about the seemingly high rates of "winners" among BC Lottery Corp retailers and their employees.

According to Carter's report, there was a lack of scrutiny for nearly all of the winning tickets, and a high percentage of the prizes paid for wins under $10,000.

Carter made 27 recommendations, while the full report is available at www.ombudsman.bc.ca. here are some of those recommendations:

That BCLC require all BCLC retailers and BCLC retailer employees to use a swipe card or enter a code before all purchases of lottery products in order to
collect a prize.
That BCLC implement a system where scratch and win tickets are recorded when sold to a player and that BCLC use this information as a security check during the
prize payout process.
That BCLC require tickets or "non-valid duplicates" to be returned to all ticket holders with appropriate markings to identify whether the ticket is not a winner; has
been validated but not paid out; or is a winner and has been paid out.

The Government is accepting an implementing all 27 recommendations. In ordering the audit, Solicitor General John Les says "The Ombudsman's report is a start, but by no means an end."

The government is now drafting the preliminary terms of reference for the audit, and an auditing firm is being selected. The auditing firm's report will be made public.

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Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:38 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Andyfreeze on May 29 2007 2:02 PM

The government is drafting the preliminary terms of the audit?
The government is also selecting an auditing firm?
Would that be like an "independant" panel of 3 people appointed by the Premier to review salaries for MLA's?
Ya right.

Posted by: jonnypg on May 29 2007 2:22 PM

I agree...they will find nothing wrong as usual!

Posted by: Andyfreeze on May 29 2007 4:57 PM

The report says the Lottery Corporation was aware of the problems and took no action.
Now John Les says no heads will roll for that slip up.
Obviously from the report,they allowed these kinds of retailer ripoffs to go on unchecked.
We got screwed.
That is so typical of Gordon Campbell's B.C.Liberals.
Nobody ever has to answer to the public for anything.
The old we can do whatever we want...so there, attitude.
(Now,give me my 29 percent raise!)

Posted by: diplomat on May 29 2007 5:49 PM

What a shameless society we have become! Anything goes, nothing is safe, everything must be treated with suspicion and nobody ever has to take any responsibility or blame for obvious transgressions! Nobody gets fired or fined or suspended!

I shall not ever buy another lottery ticket again, although I haven't bought any scratch tickets for a long time since it has become impossible to ever get a winner, even of a moderate prize! I have suspected for a long time that retailers have a way of pre-scanning scratch tickets so as an ordinary customer all one ever gets are duds!

Its a plot by the B.C. Liberals, of course.

Posted by: thereasonableman on May 29 2007 6:02 PM

Where can I get a lottery licence ?

Posted by: Palopu on May 29 2007 8:53 PM

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Why do people continue to pay this entertainment tax, to the Government. Do they really beleive that they can win.??

In order to have a few winners you need to have a lot of losers, so I guess we could say in effect that Casinos are filled with losers.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on May 30 2007 8:50 AM

I don't buy B.C.Lottery tickets.
Never did.
When you calculate the odds of actually winning something,you have a better chance at getting free ride to the moon!
However,my dear wife likes to buy scratch tickets,no big deal.
But,it is a foggy day in hell when she even wins a lousy 2 dollars!
Rarely happens.
I think they are the worst scam of all and I was once told by a person who worked in the Pine Center, that there are in fact ways of picking out a winner if you know how it's done and have the time to pick thru the tickets.
Guess that's why some of the retailers manage to win?
I didn't really believe them back then....I do now.
And the fact that our government is the push behind casino's and the B.C.lottery is a disgrace.
Now we start to hear the truth!