The Ombudsman's
Report, Winning
Fair and Square: A Report on the British Columbia Lottery
Corporation's Prize Payout Process, condemns not
only the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) but
also the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) of
the Ministry of the Solicitor General. Minister John Les
responded to questions from the Opposition saying the Ombudsman's
recommendations would be implemented and an independent
audit of BCLC would be ordered. His response failed to answer
who would be held accountable. Anyone reading the Ombudsman's
report has to wonder why a second audit would be necessary
since that is essentially what the Office of the Ombudsman
did. The answer appears to be the pretense of action and
something for Les to hide behind when he should be taking
Ministerial responsibility and resigning.
The
Report says "BCLC is an agent for the government of
British Columbia. BCLC must comply with the written directives
of the Minister responsible for it and do what he or she
requires." The Solicitor General refused to accept
responsibility when pressed during question period, saying
that it is the role of BCLC's Board of Directors. Perhaps
Les didn't read the Report even though he admitted that
he received an embargoed copy a day before its official
release. If responsibility for BCLC isn't clear enough,
he cannot duck responsibility for GPEB which is part of
his Ministry. The Report says:
"At
the end of this investigation I concluded that:
-
GPEB
did not, prior to October 27, 2006, adequately monitor,
investigate or otherwise regulate BCLC's lottery prize
payout procedures or BCLC's handling of customer complaints
about BCLC retailer or BCLC retailer employee fraud.
-
GPEB's
November/December 2006 investigation into and report
on the integrity of BCLC's lottery ticket retail network
was inadequate.
Consequently,
I found GPEB's actions relative to regulating BCLC's lottery
prize payout procedures were unreasonable as set out in
section 23(1)(v) of the Ombudsman Act and its December 2006
investigation into and report on the integrity of BCLC's
lottery ticket retail network was inadequate."
The
pressure the Campbell government is under to protect "players"
from fraud started with the CBC's October 25th, 2006, Fifth
Estate program which exposed abuse by retailers in Ontario.
The day after the airing of that show, the Vancouver Sun
submitted a freedom of information request for record of
lottery retailers who won prizes in BC; the government's
response amounted to a cover-up. A December 12, 2006, information
bulletin posted on the BCLC website claimed it was reasonable
for retailers to take home 2.54 per cent of all major prizes
because of "the scrutiny we place on all prize claimants,
but especially retailers, who come forward to claim prizes.
We simply will not pay out a major prize if there is anything
irregular about the ticket, or the information provided
by the claimant during the interview process at our prize
claim offices." The Ombudsman found that claim to be
false, and the report provides specific examples of the
inaccuracy of that cover-up.
The
Ombudsman's investigation into whether procedures BCLC had
in place where fair to the public was announced on December
18, 2006, six days after BCLC released its lame excuses.
If the Ombudsman hadn't done her work, the Campbell government
would have succeeded in hiding the truth from the public.
It's too late for Les or Campbell to call for an audit.
The audit has been done. It's time for heads to roll, starting
with Les'.
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