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Old 12-02-08, 12:40
Vets Dottir 2nd
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Default Geez Ontario Lotto

This especially for you Ontario folks,

You'd better know where your big winning lotto ticket was purchased! How ridiculous is that expectation when people buy tickets in passing and really don't remember where it was bought, or people buy lots of tickets in different places etc, or even give lotto tickets as gifts to others, and don't think it important to tell folks where they bought the damned ticket.

I feel sorry for anyone put through this ridiculousness UNREASONABLE treatment of overkill because of the previous lotto frauds with retailers hassles. Sounds like a nightmare to collect an honest win! ARGH!

Snarking over .... Ma Yappy

Quote:
February 12, 2008

Lotto winners allege OLG abuse

Winners charge abuse by lottery investigators

By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA


Winning more than $10,000 in the lottery should be a reason to celebrate.

Instead, according to some recent winners who have claimed their prize, it makes you feel like a criminal.

Vivian Bechard of Burlington said she was sent away empty-handed by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation when she tried to claim a $50,000 prize from a Crossword scratch ticket.

"I have never been so depressed as the day I tried to get my money," she said.

Bechard is new to the area and couldn't remember where she bought her winning ticket -- a question the OLG wanted answered.

'A NIGHTMARE'

"They kept me in the waiting room for hours, then I went into a room with a man who had a tape recorder and the way he was talking to me was terrible," she said. "It was a nightmare. I was in tears. They made me feel like I stole the ticket."

Bechard and her sister-in-law booked a trip to the Dominican Republic to celebrate the win, but now she has to borrow money to pay for it because she hasn't received her prize.

The ordeal put her and husband Dan off playing the lottery again.

"I'll never buy another ticket again. It's a horror show," Dan said, noting they missed the RRSP deadline because of the investigation that the OLG launches into every win over $10,000.

"They've got $50,000 of our money that should be in the bank collecting interest," he said.

The Bechards are not alone.

A Barrie woman had the same experience last week when she tried to claim $10,000 from a scratch ticket.

Karen McDonald said she was treated like a thief because she didn't know the store where her husband bought the ticket for her.

The OLG is investigating McDonald's case, as well as the Bechards', and it could take up to two weeks before they receive their money.

Even last week's $24.2-million winner Audrey Dawe was stressed out by the investigation, though her son Laurie said they were in and out within about three-and-a-half hours.

"It was a stressful day and a stressful time all in all," he said from his home in Peterborough.

"It wasn't, I guess, what you might expect -- not that I've had any experience going to collect lottery prizes before."

Last year, the province's ombudsman released a scathing report of the OLG that showed hundreds of dishonest ticket-sellers had claimed millions in prizes that belonged to other people.

The former CEO of the OLG, Duncan Brown, was removed from his post as a result and as of Jan. 1 of this year, the OLG is now regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. They are also now responsible for investigating insider and suspicious lottery wins.

The ombudsman's report made 23 recommendations, more than 85% of which have been implemented, the OLG's Teresa Roncon said.

'GONE OVERBOARD'

"I think they must have gone overboard with reaction to the fraud problem," Dawe said, noting the OLG almost didn't give his mother her cheque for $24.2 million on the day they came to claim it.

Aldo Savaia waited at the OLG for five hours last week while his brother Claudio tried to prove he was the rightful owner of a $13,000 ticket.

He said he was appalled at how his brother was treated.

Claudio, who is in poor health and might lose his house because of mortgage troubles, still hasn't received his cash and is now being investigated by the OPP.

Roncon said officers attached to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario are called in to investigate some claims.

"When my brother came out (of the interrogation room) he was all down and out and he felt like a bag of sh--," Savaia said. "Now it's a crime to forget how you got your ticket."

According to Roncon, all wins over $10,000 are checked by OLG investigators.
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