As of June 11, 2007, a store clerk from Kamloops who won the lottery 8 times in the past 5 years was convicted of fraud last 2001 but it seems that this is a brand new story to the BC Lottery Corporation.
When asked if the BCLC was aware of the clerk's conviction in the past, BCLC spokeswoman, Robin Cook, said that the BCLC's security staff is currently investigating the matter, but would not be able to comment at the moment.
Nonetheless, Cook conceded that the BCLC would likely have no record of the criminal conviction because they do not do criminal record background checks on retailers.
On May 30, 2007, after a critical report from the BC Ombudsman regarding retailer fraud, the BC Lottery released the names of the 24 retailers who won multiple times over the past 7 years.
Court records showed that one of the retailers, 43 year old Kulvinder Kaur Bain, an employee of the Halston Market in Kamloops, pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud in August 2001 under $5,000. Bain's denied being convicted of the fraud charges.
The court records state that the victim of fraud was Canadian Tire, but they do not detail the exact nature of the fraud case. According to BCLC records, Bain has won the Lottery 8 times, winning a total of $19,351.
5 of those prizes were for keno games, 2 for the extra game and 1 was the Super 7. Most of the prizes that were awarded were between $1,000 and $3,000.
Under the new regulations that were enforced in December 2006, the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch which handles gambling in BC, will begin registering retailers and checking them for past criminal records.
Branch Head, Derek Sturko, commented that ordinary employees will not be subjected to the same background examination, but managers and owners will be held liable for the actions of their staff.
Monday, June 25 , 2007
Louis Blechdom
