Ombudsman makes lottery security recommendations

Canada.com (full article) Chad Skelton, Vancouver SunPublished: Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The B.C. Government has launched an audit of the lottery system in response to today's report from the province's ombudsman which found the system open to abuse by unscrupulous retailers. "The ombudsman's report is a start but by no means an end," said Solitor-General John Les. "The bigger question of how and why B.C.'s retail lottery system was left vulnerable to potential fraud remains and that question is what the audit is intended to answer." B.C. Ombudsman Kim Carter launched her investigation in December after The Vancouver Sun reported that lottery retailers were winning major prizes at several times the rate of the general public. According to internal lottery documents obtained by The Sun, over the past six years, those who sell lottery tickets have won 4.4 per cent of all lottery prizes over $10,000 - a rate anywhere from three to six times their share of the population. The figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, raised fears that retailers may be stealing customers' winning tickets.