Storekeepers luckier than us at lotteries?

[Mizfit]

By IAN ROBERTSON, TORONTO SUN

Provincial lottery officials say claims by the CBC yesterday that it was statistically bizarre that almost 200 Ontario retailers won big prizes are based on flawed analysis and conclusions.
Variety store owners condemned "outrageous" allegations by the Fifth Estate that 100 unknowing winners had tickets stolen by dealers over the past seven years.
Store operators are hard-working and "make their living by providing quality service to their customers with the highest levels of integrity," Dave Bryans, head of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said he has asked for a report on the program's conclusions and is prepared to take any steps necessary to ensure people have full confidence in the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG).
Buyers put a lot of hope into tickets, and "for them to learn that there might be something amiss in terms of the rigour with which we ensure that everything is on the up and up at the OLG is a real concern,"he said.
The TV report alluded to a disproportionate number of the province's 10,500 lottery retailers having "insider" knowledge that beat normal odds that let them claim wins above $50,000 and averaging $500,000.
It opened with a California case, suggesting winners are being cheated across NorthAmerica, then focused on 82-year-old Bob Edmond's $250,000 successful fraud claim against ex-owners of a store near Lindsay.
On the show, an OPP investigator said the OLG failed to surrender a key document when he probed Edmond's claim that he was cheated out of Encore winnings in 2001.
The Coboconk senior was paid $150,000 after suing the owners, who cashed his ticket, then settled a civil suit against the OLG in 2005, after suing it for $100,000.
Citing a deal that bars him from giving details, he cautiously told Fifth Estate interviewer Gillian Findlay the officials delayed admitting he was the owner, "covering up, trying to make themselves look like they were telling the truth and I wasn't."
Hired by the CBC to study OLG big payoffs since 1999, U of T statistician Jeffrey Rosenthal said "owners and employees did a heck of a lot better than the average population and that raises questions.
"I'm not trying to say there's any malfeasance on the part of the OLG,"he said,
But in an interview with the Sun and on the show, Rosenthal said the odds of so many retailer wins are "about one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion" and the OLG "shouldn't be saying there's no problem."
Big sections of the corporation's standard investigative reports into retailer wins of $50,000 or more "were blacked out" before the Fifth Estate received them via freedom of information applications, show producer Harvey Cashore said. The CBC is appealing to have the blacked out sections uncovered,
"There is no mystery to our report," Cashore said. "The mystery is what they're withholding."
He said the OLG refused to go on-camera to clarify unanswered issues from a list of questions provided during "months and months" of negotiating for information.
But Joe Vecsi, the commission's chief spokesman, said the Fifth Estate refused its request to let them analyze Rosenthal's formula.
If OLG staff believe a customer was cheated out of a winning ticket or it was altered, the OPP are contacted, he said, adding that only five cases were referred to the police over the past seven years, with legal action taken only in two cases -- one involving Edmonds.

[Ejuicer]

I saw that on the news last night. Their stat was something like 1 in a trillion that only that small amount of stores would be the only ones to win I think they were saying.

[spywizard]

so to win the lottery, just buy a Quicky Mart

[novastepp]

Mizfit, do you have a job?

[tiger909]

i work in an ampm......i dont win shiat

[Snrf]

yeah i won 10 quid on a ticket, took it into a store and the lady said i hadnt won....i was like uhm yes i have i checked my numbers online...bitch

[Animal Cracker]

so to win the lottery, just buy a Quicky Mart

LOL!