Lottery ticket terminals across the Prairies and northern Canada will be replaced next year in a move that would make it more difficult for retailers to falsely claim customers' prizes.
Western Canada Lottery Corp. will introduce the new terminals in the fall of 2007, replacing the 13-year-old machines.
"We will be introducing new lottery ticket terminals that will have a tone if you have a winning prize, so that will be an audio cue to indicate you've won," spokeswoman Kathleen Polyak told CBC News Wednesday.
"After these have been introduced, there will be a customer display unit indicating whether you've won a prize."
She said there's no estimate on how much it would cost to replace the approximately 4,000 machines.
The replacement was prompted by the age of the existing machines, not by concerns from customers or Wednesday night's report on CBC's The Fifth Estate, she said.
The CBC report suggested retailers have won a suspiciously large number of lotteries in Ontario.
Dr. Jeffrey Rosenthal, a statistician with the University of Toronto and author of Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities, said statistically retailers should have been expected to win around 57 times, although documents obtained by CBC showed they had won 200 times.
Tickets should be returned to customers
On the Prairies and in northern Canada, a customer who is suspicious about a vendor can contact the Western Canada Lottery Corp. through the number on the back of the tickets, said Polyak.
Her organization then passes the complaint to the lottery authorities in each province or territory. In Alberta, that's the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, or AGLC.
"With non-winning tickets, they should always be returned to the customers. We get calls from consumers if it doesn't happen, but what we do is we file a complaint with AGLC."
After The Fifth Estate report, the Atlantic Lottery said customers should treat all lottery tickets like potential winners, watch the validation process take place, ask for the validation slip and sign the back of any ticket.
Related
MORE MANITOBA HEADLINES »
- Curb youth violence with programs, deterrence: Toews
- Justice Minister Vic Toews said Friday the federal government is trying to put more money into programs to help at-risk youth, following recent reports of Manitoba children and youth being charged with committing violent crimes.
- Manitoba won't cut PST for now: Selinger
- The two per cent cut in Saskatchewan's provincial sales tax will not be followed by one in Manitoba — at least not for the time being, Finance Minister Greg Selinger said Friday.
- Lions deny Blue Bombers
- Dave Dickenson threw two touchdown passes to lead the B.C. Lions to a 26-16 win over Winnipeg Saturday, costing the Blue Bombers the chance to host an East division playoff game.
- Canada Post to review 800,000 rural mailboxes
- Canada Post will assess more than 800,000 rural mailboxes across the country to determine whether they meet new safety standards established by the Crown corporation.
- Manitoba labour productivity up 3%: report
- The productivity of Manitoba's workforce has grown by 2.9 per cent between 2004 and 2005, but it's still less productive than workers in other Western provinces, according to a study released Friday.
