To the Editor,
The seemingly manipulated monopoly of winning lottery tickets by Ontario and Quebec shows no sign of letting up, as shown in the five most recent handouts of major prizes.
On Feb. 25, the 6/49 top prize of $11.5 million was won by one person in Ontario. On March 3, $4.03 million was top prize and went to one Ontario ticket holder.
On March 14, the $12 million top prize went to Ontario. On March 21, a 6/49 ticket holder in Quebec scooped up $7.9 million. And on March 23, the $50 million Lotto Max prize went to Ontario.
Total winnings in Ontario and Quebec from these five draws was $84.6 million.
In B.C., winnings from these same five draws was less than $320,000.
In previous writings on this neverending national imbalance, the Lottery Corporation has responded with the claim that Quebec’s population so outnumbers the west that the ratio favors the east. However, StatsCan has now released population figures showing B.C. and Alberta numbers exceed those of Quebec.
It is time, well past time, for a national audit to be conducted on the modus operandi of Canada’s major lotteries.
Harold Hamilton,
Port Alberni