That's what a University of Toronto statistician suggests after studying the amount of lottery workers who've won major jackpots over the past seven years and that conclusion has led to some startling allegations against the integrity of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
A recent investigation found that 214 ticket-sellers out of about 140,000 retailers have won jackpots averaging $500,000 since 1999, and number cruncher Dr. Jeffrey Rosenthal said the odds of "insiders" winning that much and that often seemed strange.
"We did an analysis of how many lottery store owners and employees are out there and how often we should expect them to win," the statistician explained.
"We figured that maybe at most, maybe 57 would be expected to win. Then you say, okay, maybe 60 or 65 might win just if they're a bit lucky.
"But the fact that about 200 of them won, that's just not going to happen and we ran the numbers and something like one chance in a trillion trillion trillion trillion that that many insiders would win just by pure luck alone."
This has led to allegations that ticket-sellers are ripping off prize money - telling big money winners that they've only won a bit of cash or a free ticket. It's a shocking claim that comes as no surprise to Linda Costa who'll never be sure if a ticket she purchased 12 years ago was a big winner.
"It did happen to me before. The bell rang, the fellow told me I didn't win anything, and I walked out," she said.
But OLG disputes the claims and insists that investigations are conducted every time a retailer or clerk wins a big prize.
"Any time someone wins a prize that's over $50,000, a major prize ... we conduct a thorough review, an investigation on of how they've arrived at that ticket, every time, 100 percent of the time," spokeswoman Teresa Roncon explained.
That includes ticket-sellers, clerks, and their relatives. The gaming organization says it's had to contact the Ontario Provincial Police four times over the past five years regarding lottery wins and that two of those calls were for information purposes only.
"Two of those times resulted in charges; two other times were merely for advice and information," Roncon said.
The allegations also had politicians at Queen's Park defending the gaming organization.
"Ontario Lottery and Gaming is certainly committed to operating a business in a responsible and ethical manner and has some of the most stringent inside win provisions of any organization of its kind in North America," David Caplan, the minister responsible for gaming in Ontario, said Wednesday.
Still, the province asked the OLG to conduct an investigation into the allegations, but critics at Queen's Park claim that's not nearly enough.
They believe only an independent third party probe without the involvement of lottery officials will restore trust in the games of chance.
And with that in mind, on Thursday, Ontario's Ombudsman Andre Marin (pictured) announced he will investigate the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Association in response to the copmplaints of alleged theft and fraud involving retailers.
The investigation will deal with, among other things how the body responds to complaints of potential theft or fraud involving winning lottery tickets.
"The public buys into the agreement because the corporation it deals with is no ordinary corporation, it is a public servant," said Marin.
"My investigation will explore the ways and means the corporation uses to determine whether that trust is properly safeguarded and whether public interest is sufficiently protected."
Here's a look at the security measures OLG takes to fight fraud:
- Customer-facing information screens on all lottery terminals, which display a message when a winning ticket is validated, and play music to tell the customer they've won. A major-prize win also triggers a different winning tune and a special screen message.
- Lottery terminal freezes that shut down a terminal completely when a major-prize winning ticket ($50,000 or more) is validated. OLG staff then calls the retailer and speaks directly to the winner while they are in the store to provide specific instructions. The terminal can only be turned back on by our corporate head office.
- In-store self-serve ticket checkers where customers can check their own tickets electronically to know if they have won.
- All instant ticket games are audited by Deloitte & Touche, and Ernst and Young annually reviews the operations of OLG's lottery gaming system.
- A new Vice President of Security and Surveillance who is an Ontario Provincial Police Chief has further strengthened our security and investigations procedures.
There are a few safety measures you can take to ensure you don't fall victim to fraud if you've purchased a winning ticket, and they include:
- Always sign the back of your ticket.
- Check your numbers yourself either on our website at olg.ca, the winning numbers lists at retail, either on our customer screens or by asking for a hard copy, on television, or in the newspapers.
- Make sure you get your ticket back, with the validation slip.
Courtesy of OLG
For more information on lottery fraud and how to avoid it,
click here.
So what are your odds of actually legitimately winning the top prize in one of Ontario's lotteries?
Here's the list.
6/49:
1 in 13,983,816
Super 7:
1 in 20,963,833
Ontario 49:
1 in 13,983,816
Lottario:
1 in 4,072,530.5
Payday:
1 in 1,353,275
Keno:
1 in 5.09
Pick 4:
1 in 10,000
Pick 3:
1 in 1,000
Encore:
1 in 10,000,000
Instant Lotteries:
$1 Games
Cash Blast: 1 in 600,000
Combo Cash: 1 in 600,000
Crossword Express: 1 in 750,000
Lucky Lines Express: 1 in 750,000
$2 Games:
Bonus Banco: 1 in 833,333
Banco: 1 in One Million
Casino Royale: 1 in 750,000
Dial 4 Dough: 1 in 750,000
Hot 25: 1 in 50
$3 Games
Bonus Crossword: 1 in one million
Extra Keno: 1 in 1 million
Instant Crossword: 1 in one million
Instant Keno: 1 in 1.2 million
Jigsaw: 1 in 1, 250,000
Royale Bingo: 1 in 2.5 million
Ruby Red Bingo: 1 in 2.5 million
Scrabble: 1 in 150,000,000
$4 Games
Cash For Life: 1 in 2.5 million
$5 Games
Ontario Instant Millions: 1 in 1 million
$20 Games
Quest for Gold Lottery: 1 in 400,000
Courtesy of OLG