Ontario retailers banned from buying lottery tickets in their own stores

Lottery ticket retailers in Ontario will no longer be able to purchase tickets in their own stores, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation announced Monday.

The new policy will allow the storeowners to buy tickets at other stores. OLG officials can tell where a ticket has been purchased.

“We have a lot of confidence in our claims process,” said OLG’s senior vice president, Greg McKenzie.

The province’s Ombudsman, Andre Marin, who exposed systemic fraud at the provincial agency in 2007, declared himself pleased with the new policy.

“I think it’s a good step,” Marin told reporters Monday afternoon.

The new policy comes 19 months after an independent audit determined retailers had claimed $198 million in winnings over the past 13 years – an astoundingly high rate far beyond the win rate of the general population.

Some of those claims are the subject of criminal investigations, Marin said.