I donated
$500 to the Greater
Vancouver Food Bank Society this evening so they won't
suffer due to my refusal to sign a nondisclosure agreement
with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). After
all, people who are hungry suffer enough because of the
Campbell government; they shouldn't also have to pay because
the Lottery Corporation won't honour an agreement unless
it's kept secret.
On May
2, 2007, I used BCLC's "PlayNow" online Internet
gambling system to purchase a "never-miss- a-draw"
ticket with my usual numbers for the Lotto 6/49 and the
BC/49 plus the Extra. On May 19th three of my four Extra
numbers matched the winning draw (for a prize of $1,000);
imagine my disappointment when I was told that on a "never-miss-a-draw"
ticket, the Extra numbers change on each draw. As of September
5th there is still nothing on the BCLC website that clearly
says that. Part of the reason the changing number is a surprise
is that does not happen if a player buys a ticket that repeats
for a fixed number of draws. For example, a ticket purchased
online for 10 draws will have the same Extra numbers for
each of the draws. It is BCLC's little secret that they
change your numbers after you think you've won on never-miss-a-draw
tickets.
Of course,
I complained to BCLC about the apparent flaw in their system,
or at least their failure to clearly disclose to players
how their system works. My initial phone calls were as useful
as talking to a brick wall, but then controversy erupted
over the May
29th release of the Ombudsman's report which contradicted
the Campbell government's efforts to deny problems existed
with the redemption of lottery tickets by retailers. BCLC
responded with damage control in the form of its "Player
First" advertising campaign, and I took the opportunity
to use their new online form to resubmit my complaint. To
my delight I was phoned by someone at BCLC and ultimately
contacted by someone further up the food chain who thanked
me for reporting the problem and who offered me $500 for
my efforts. I told them that I wasn't out to shake down
BCLC; I said what I wanted first and foremost was a fix
to their system so players would be notified that with never-miss-a-draw
the Extra number on printed tickets changes on each draw
(of course, who would buy the Extra if they knew that?).
Since they offered the money I said they could give it to
the Vancouver Food Bank. On July 6th a BCLC Security Investigator
showed up at my door with a "Final Settlement Agreement
and Release" for me to sign. Included was a nondisclosure
provision which I struck out and initialed before signing
the agreement. Today I received a letter
dated September 4, 2007, from the Director of eBusiness
for BCLC which stated that without my agreement to the
confidential (nondisclosure) clause BCLC is unable to provide
the promised $500 to the Vancouver Food Bank.
I've
submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman about the use of
nondisclosure agreements by BCLC to keep the public in the
dark as I've learned that my experience is not unique. A
frequent critic of BCLC who emails me with the details of
her difficulties in getting information from BCLC was asked
to sign a nondisclosure agreement before they would release
information pursuant to a freedom of information request.
Of course, she refused and ultimately won, but the very
powerful, billion dollar plus corporation, should not get
away with trying to hide information that might influence
public policy. The Ombudsman needs to take another look
at how BCLC conducts its business. Its expansion into Internet
gambling, the flaws in its "games", and its lack
of accountability require scrutiny.
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