OPP arrested 3 people today in connection with the theft of a $12.5 Super 7 ticket by a convenience store owner. The ticket's purchaser apparently had the convenience store clerk check the ticket for him (or her) and was told that he had won a free ticket. The convience store owner then had his daughter cash the ticket.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/09/29/lottery-theft029.html

The ticket was purchased in St. Catherine's and cashed in Burlington in 2003. I imagine they'll put you through all kind of hoops if you think it might be yours.

Here's hopin' the original purchaser gets his or her money

another reason why all lotteries should get out of the stoneage, and simply sell their tickets online.

blitzed

I just saw this on the news too and what gets me questioning all this is the OPP and the lottery officials say they know who exactly the original rightful owner of the ticket is should he/she step forward. They even go so far as to say that this person represents a group and lives, work and buy their lottery ticket in different cities. This person always play Super 7 but sometimes play other games too. They are looking for him right now but how in the world would they know all this? How do they know so accurately and exactly unless they've chosen him/her to win in the first place? No program in existence can tell them who exactly this person is! Think about it. None. Magic don't exist!

Considering that this person gave up a freeplay instead of a $12.5M ticket, the profile could be anyone! Lots of people throw away freeplays or don't even want it. They know who it is because they've chosen that person to win but he never showed up to collect on his win. Instead, Ms.Chung showed up.

Have the Lottery Corp unintentionally proved itself to be a SCAM? To control and pick out jackpot winners based on background checks before the numbers are even drawn?

More links here:

[url]http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/29/15516731.html[/url]

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/11/14/olgc-probe.html[/url]

My interpretation of the newstory was that the OLG or the police task force that is looking into these fraudulent "wins" by convenience store owners has an analysis program that makes 'guesses' about the player based on the numbers played. They said that the profile matches group play -- whatever that means (lots of combos?). But they don't know "who" this person is, just what type of tickets and where they were purchased.

The whole story seems a bit odd to me...

Very odd indeed. At least 137 people have called in claiming it's their ticket already in the first day, more are expected as word of this story gets out.

One of the comments from a reader of an earlier article puts it like this...

"There are at least 86 liars involved here, each of them as guilty of trying to get a lottery jackpot they know is not theirs as the perps who were charged with actually stealing the ticket. The article says the names of those making the grade will be passed on to the police for further investigation. I do hope the the ones that are not are also reported to the police and charged with at least public mischief. What's the diff in motive betweent the charged perps and the total liar trying to claim the jackpot?"

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/09/30/lotto-office-swamped030.html

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100930/national/lottery_insider_charges

I'd reply to your post, but I have ta run off an put in my claim

I agree, they're all liars and crooks, except for one (assuming the owner is one of the bunch). Hey, they'll probably hear from half the population of St. Catherine's before its over.