Lawsuit filed against Western Canada Lottery

Comment #7

time*treat — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:05:46 GMT

A few lawyers will try and make some money off of this. The players will get their settlement in the form of a new series of games.

Comment #6

dx123 — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:45:28 GMT

Here is the OLGC website that indicates all their 'instant' scratch-offs. Read the bottom line of this page starting with, This list shows... . I imagine Western Canada Lotteries has the same...or not??? They are being sued so they don't.

I don't play these 'games' at all because I don't trust the OLGC...'Dead_Aim' above has one good reason why!!!

http://www.olg.ca/lotteries/games/viewInstantTicketInfo.do

OLGC calls these 'unclaimed' prizes as if meaning that someone had already wo... [ More ]

Comment #5

itsmyhouse — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:17:24 GMT

What will happen is exactly the structure you've indicated above, but it will all be done behind the scenes. That way one top prize will always be in play , even though the fifth group hasn't been released to retailers yet. Then they can state that one of the top prizes has not been claimed and can continue to sell tickets. I'm sure Scientific Games (or whomever prints the tickets) will gladly work with the lotteries to get around this. It may mean that any scratch off with a really big top priz... [ More ]

Comment #4

duckman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:48:26 GMT

Take this one step further and there is another problem for games with more than one top prize:

(The numbers are for example only)

Scratch Game ABC has 1,000,000 tickets printed with 5 top prizes

The distribution of the 5 top prize tickets is usually done in equal sets like this:

For the single Scratch Game ABC:

Ticket Group 1 (tickets# 000,001 - 199,000) has 1 top prize

Ticket Group 2 (tickets# 200,000 - 399,000) has 1 top prize

Ticket Group 3 (tickets# 400,000

Comment #3

Dead_Aim — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:04:37 GMT

On average a top prize is won after 50 percent of lottery tickets are sold. That means that 50 percent of people buying tickets are purchasing at a time when they can't win the top prize. The claim that has been filed is seeking damages of no less than $100 million, explained Merchant.

They will just start printing or releasing the top prize later in the game. If they don't print or release it until half the tickets are sold now they are already manipulating the game. Just make it later and t... [ More ]

Comment #2

RJOh — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:03:47 GMT

In most cases, to be able to pay the top prize and make a profit, lotteries must sell most of the tickets regardless of when the top prize is paid out and players know this. Besides, only players who buy tickets in the store that has the role of tickets with the top prize have any chance of winning the top prize regardless of when it's sold when a game is structured this way. The only way around it is to have a drawing for the top prize once all the tickets are sold.

It looks likes this lawye... [ More ]

Comment #1

MaddMike51 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:54:07 GMT

I think that once the top prizes have been claimed,the lottery should inform the players that the top prizes have been claimed but there are still some big prizes that are unclaimed.This way the players can decide for themselves if they will continue to buy the tickets.If the remaining prizes are big enough,some will continue buying tickets,others won't.

I don't see how sueing for a hundred million dollars is going to solve anything,especially if you can't prove who is a victim and who is not... [ More ]

Lawsuit filed against Western Canada Lottery

Lottery Post — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:39:32 GMT

Alleges 'systemic misrepresentation' of scratch games, seeks $100M

Regina lawyer Tony Merchant has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Western Canadian Lottery Corporation (WCLC) and the corresponding provincial agencies over scratch-and-win tickets.

The case is being brought forth on behalf of all persons who, since Nov. 1, 2001, purchased or acquired scratch-and-win tickets from a game order for which all tickets containing top prizes had already been sold, reads the statement of cl... [ More ]