British Columbia Lottery Under Spotlight
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
BRITISH COLUMBIA LOTTERY UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
Doubts about another Canadian provincial lottery
In a worrying sequel to last month's reports that the Ontario provincial lottery was the subject of an investigation by the regional Ombudsman (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa reports) the Metro Vancouver this week revealed that similar concerns have been raised about the British Columbia lotto, too.
The publication reported that local lottery fans are worried by the news that BC retailers selling lottery tickets are an unlikely average of six times more likely to win a jackpot than the general public, according to internal B.C. Lottery Corporation documents obtained by the Vancouver Sun.
The article goes on to interview members of the public unhappy with the situation, and quotes BCLC spokesman Paul Smith, who revealed that the corporation is considering turning 70 percent of its retail distribution sites into self-serve ticket machines next year.
When asked about the alleged discrepancies between lotto retailer wins and the general population, Smith said winners of prizes over $10 000 are carefully screened, and the BCLC is currently conducting a review of its lottery system.
The report follows similar alleged anomalies in the high ratio of ticket retailer wins discovered last month by Toronto University statisticians, which led to the Ombudsman in Ontario declaring an investigation in the public interest.
