VICTORIA -- A Central Saanich man has launched a lawsuit against B.C. Lottery Corp. over the validity of scratch-and-win lottery tickets. Albert Chartrand's lawsuit, filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court, will be argued on the same basis as one filed in Saskatchewan last week against the Western Canadian Lottery Corporation, said Victoria lawyer Darren Williams. The issue is whether BCLC can legally sell tickets after the tickets bearing the top prizes have already been won, Williams said. "It's about keeping corporations honest, that's really what it's about," he said.
Chartrand has purchased or acquired thousands of scratch-and-win tickets over 13 years, the statement of claim said. The corporation knows when the top prizes have been won but continues to sell tickets when consumers no longer have any chance of winning, it said. BCLC "has thereby obtained millions of dollars in sales of tickets by falsely promising to the plaintiff the chance to win the top prize," it said. "BCLC has sold hundreds of thousands of tickets in breach of its obligations, after awarding the last top prize from the relevant game order." According to the terms of the tickets, as written on the reverse side, the lottery corporation should sell tickets only to purchasers who have a chance of winning the top prize. Williams wants to have the case certified as a class-action suit, allowing others to join in. Chartrand wants a refund of the money he spent on tickets when he had no chance of winning. He also seeks other damages, but those will not be clarified until the case is certified as a class action, Williams said.
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