Lottery Discussion

[Orion VIII]

Going to bump this with some new lottery news. 4 major things occurring this June -

- The month of June will have yet another Lotto 649 bonus draw run. 3 draws of $100,000 with each 649 draw.

- Next 3 items start June 5th -

- NEW GAME - Pick 2. Just like Pick 3 and Pick 4, pick 2 numbers and win $99 if you match the two numbers exactly. Consolation prize of $2 if you match the first number. These are the only ways to win (no box play). $2 a play.

- Daily games (Pick 2, Pick 3, Pick 4, Daily Keno and related Encore) will now be drawn twice daily, at 2 PM and 9 PM.

- As per the report OLG released a few months ago to become more "high-tech", OLG is moving to a paperless number selection approach for Pick 2, Pick 3 and Pick 4. Customers will be able to tell retailers what numbers they want now instead of filling out a slip.

The last three items on your list make me thankful that I am no longer a Lottery Retailer!!! Does this mean the terminal will now be inactive from 2 to 2:15pm for the pick 2, 3 and 4 draws to occur just as they are inactive from 9 to 9:15pm for the other draws?

I can only imagine how much confusion there will be for picking your own numbers verbally. The idea with quick pick and selection slips was that the retailer would have no impact whatsoever on the choices made and therefore could not be seen as being responsible for causing a losing ticket. This opens up a new can of worms where a finger slip or verbal misunderstanding could influence the tickets. Of course even with selection slips the onus is on the customer to ensure the printed ticket matches the selection they had previously made but they don't see this and just like with transit, in the customer's eye it is always the fault of the retailer. If it doesn't the ticket gets cancelled but of course there will be issues...