Not again! The OLG tries to deny a prize claim because the purchaser could not remember where she bought her ticket!

We all lead busy lives. But if you reside in Ontario and you like to play the lottery from time to time, the lotto monopoly that is the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) wants you to possess a photographic memory if you want to get paid out on a winning ticket.

Indeed, the OLG wants to know exactly when and exactly where you purchased that winning ticket. It also wants to know if you purchased other lottery tickets. And if you cannot remember when and where and how many, well, sorry, rube, jackpot denied.

Indeed, the OLG was recently back in the news for all the wrong reasons. Which is to say, this Crown corporation was again outed for not paying out jackpots to rightful winners.

The most recent case involved Heather Douglas. She won a $1,003 prize playing Lotto 6/49. But because Heather could not remember exactly where and when she bought her ticket, the OLG told her she would not receive the prize.

Thankfully, Heather did not take kindly to that response and decided to fight back by contacting the consumer reporter at CTV News. And what do you know? Facing yet another PR black eye, suddenly the OLG reversed course and paid out the money to the rightful winner.

This is not unusual, but rather, par for the course. It would seem based on recent history, the OLG only does the right thing when it is faced with negative publicity or has to endure litigation. (Astute viewers might recall that Rebel News reporter David Menzies had to file a Small Claims lawsuit against the OLG when a minor jackpot was denied. Menzies was indeed successful in court.)

But why is the OLG still acting in such an egregious and outrageous fashion? As well, how much money does the OLG withhold from winners on an annual basis?

Well, Rebel News sought answers – but here’s where things became surreal.

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Menzies reached out to OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti. But instead of providing answers, Bitonti deferred our queries to “Steven” (no surname provided). Steven is apparently a manager with the OLG customer service department. But how weird is that? Menzies was contacting the OLG in the capacity of reporter, not customer. And how would Steven be qualified to answer our queries in the first place?

In any event, here are the questions we sent via email to OLG:

1. The lottery winner, Heather Douglas, makes note that there is no signage/advertising emphasizing that lottery ticket buyers must memorize where they bought their tickets. Why is this the case?

2. I understand her prize was $1,003. In other words, if the winning amount was $4 less, she could’ve claimed the prize at a lottery retailer no questions asked. Why did the OLG originally refuse to pay out her prize over such a trivial amount?

3. What made the OLG change its mind and give her the cheque?

4. What is the status of the other denied prize that was referenced in the CTV report?

5. How much money over the years has the OLG refused to payout to jackpot claimants?

And the following is Steven’s response (which, alas, fails to provide tangible information):

“I am writing in response to the email you recently sent to Tony Bitonti. As it is our practice for Customer Care to reply to all customer correspondence, your letter has been forwarded to me for response. Please be assured that this response has been shared with Tony Bitonti.

“Due to privacy policies, OLG does not provide information about specific ticket claimant cases. However, we will explain the process and practices we have in place to ensure we pay the rightful prize to the rightful ticket owner.

“OLG is excited to provide all our lottery prize winners with a pleasant experience when they make a prize claim through the OLG Prize Centre.

“As mentioned, OLG pays the right prize to the rightful owner of the winning lottery ticket. To do so, we have long-standing practices in place, such as our standard prize claim review process, to ensure that happens every time.

“OLG has detailed information about every lottery ticket sold in the province. However, with over 10,000 authorized lottery retailers across Ontario, most lottery purchases at retail are considered anonymous. Even if a retailer checks ID for customers who look under 25 years of age, they don’t record the personal information of lottery customers. The only time personal information is recorded by OLG is when a customer sets up an account on OLG.ca and buys lottery tickets online. If you win with an online ticket purchase, OLG contacts you directly about the win.

“As a result of these anonymous lottery purchases in the retail environment, OLG has a duty to determine the rightful ownership of a winning lottery ticket of $1,000 or more that is claimed through the OLG Prize Centre by asking the claimant questions about that ticket. This is done through our prize claim review process, the same process that has been in place for decades.

“This standard prize claim process involves our Prize Centre staff asking the claimant questions such as, ‘Where and when did you buy the ticket? What other lottery products did you buy with this ticket?’ These are only a sampling of the questions asked.

“If the claimant has difficulty answering the questions, the Prize Centre staff can ask follow-up questions in hopes of helping the claimant remember some facts. If at this point, the responses do not match the information we have, or if incorrect information is provided, or information requested is not provided at all, then the claim undergoes further review, which will add extra time to the prize claim process.

“OLG makes every attempt to work with the claimant to determine ticket ownership and, once the proper ownership is established, ultimately pay them their rightful prize.

“As you are aware from past interactions, if OLG did not have a rigorous process in place to determine ticket ownership, the public would quite rightfully cry foul. The Ombudsman’s report from 2007, entitled ‘A Game of Trust,’ demanded that OLG put stronger player protections in place. Since the release of that report, OLG has done just that.

“Last year, OLG paid almost $2.5 billion in prizes to our lottery customers.”

A few points: it is astonishing that Steven would make reference to the 2007 Ombudsman’s report given that it concluded that the OLG, due to jackpot denials and insiders winning jackpots, was perhaps the most corrupt Crown corporation in the history of Crown corporations. And apparently, some 17 years later, it’s business as usual down at the OLG.

As well, we were not interested in the amount the OLG paid out last year, but rather, how much it had withheld from rightful winners.

When our follow-up emails and phone calls went unanswered, we paid a personal visit to OLG’s Toronto headquarters seeking answers. Alas, no OLG representative would come on camera, and we were told to leave the premises or police would be called. Nice.

And to think the OLG justifies its monopoly on the premise of “social responsibility”…