VANCOUVER – Lottery ticket-buyer Pierre Landry, who has never won more than $10 while retailers have been winning hand over fist, is happy to hear that the British Columbia Lottery Corporation is making changes.
“They weren’t paying attention to it for a long time and they’d better check into that," said Landry to the Vancouver Province. “It makes you want to quit. It makes me wonder how many times I’ve been cheated.”
Landry thinks ticket kiosks should replace human sellers. “It would eliminate the chance of cheating if it comes out from a machine.”
A few blocks away, Roy Wallace hears the happy “You’re in the Money” tune that plays when a retailer checks a winning ticket. Wallace, who usually plays scratch-and-win cards, supports the new procedures for retailers and their employees when they have a winning ticket. They include using a swipe card before buying their own lottery tickets.
And clerks can no longer turn the sound down to hide the music that plays for winners, or turn the screen that shows the amount won away from customers’ view. “We can’t do anything [to hide a win],” said clerk Aman Cheema to the Vancouver Province.
New Canadian lottery rules include:
- Retailers follow a Code of Conduct and can be pursued for fraud or misconduct by the Canadian lottery corporation.
- Players can validate their own tickets and keep the ticket as a receipt if they’ve won.
- Players can view the Check-A-Ticket terminals, to be installed in every ticket outlet.
- Retailers must use a swipe card or enter a code before buying a lottery product in order to collect a prize.
- Scratch-and-win tickets will be recorded when sold, and the information used as a security check during the prize-payout process.