Integrity and Compliance

The combination of strong policies and security features means that every player should have a positive and similar experience at any retail location where lottery is sold. With Atlantic Lottery tools at retail, players can take an active role in both the purchase and the checking of their tickets. 
 

Customer-Facing Screens

Atlantic Lottery's terminals have a customer-facing screen called a Customer Display Unit (CDU), which displays a 'shopping basket' to the player that details ticket purchases and validation results in real time.
 

Self-Serve Ticket Checkers

Self-serve ticket checkers let players check their own draw, sports, and Scratch'N Win tickets prior to having them validated by a retailer. By scanning the barcode on the ticket, the ticket checker will indicate if the ticket is a winner and displays the prize amount on the screen display. 
 

Signing tickets

Atlantic Lottery encourages players to sign their ticket at time of purchase. It is an easy way for a player to identify the ticket in the event it is lost or stolen. Atlantic Lottery policies prohibit retailers from validating unsigned tickets (excluding Breakopen).
 *Top prize winning Bonus Breakopen tickets will require signature and have a signature line on the ticket.
 

Click here for some frequently asked questions regarding signing tickets.

Validation of winning and non-winning lottery products

Retailers and retailer employees must immediately and automatically return to players all winning and non-winning lottery products that have been presented for validation, along with the associated player receipts (excluding Breakopen).
 

Forward Facing Validation

Players can request to have their draw-based, sports, or Scratch’N Win tickets validated while holding on to them. The retailer will scan the barcode of their ticket using the handheld scanner on our lottery terminal. Players must sign all of their tickets (excluding Breakopen) before than can be scanned by a retailer.
 

Audible sounds on lottery terminals

When a draw-based or Scratch’N Win ticket is presented to the retailer for validation, the lottery terminal will produce either a winning “Wahoo” sound or a non-winning tone.

Retailer Play Button

Atlantic Lottery retailers and retail employees are permitted to play our lottery products. Atlantic Lottery encourages retailers and retail employees to use the Retailer Play button when purchasing draw-based tickets (such as LOTTO 6/49, LOTTO MAX, etc.) at any lottery retail location. The Retailer Play Button electronically prints “Retailer Play” at the top of their ticket(s) at the point of purchase with the intent to protect our players and retailers from any disputes regarding ownership.
 

Retailers and retail employees who claim a winning draw-based ticket valued at $1,000 or more that is not stamped “Retailer Play” are subject to a mandatory 30-day review period.

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Atlantic Lottery’s Investigative Team regularly monitors lottery retailers and their employees to ensure they are following procedures.

Site Visits

Atlantic Lottery regularly conducts “mystery shopper” visits at retail locations to monitor adherence to player protection policies and Atlantic Lottery’s retail policies and procedures.

We also conduct testing to ensure retailers are adhering to our 19+ policy, which prohibits the sale of our lottery products to any person under the age of majority. The sale of lottery products to minors is also prohibited by law in P.E.I. and N.S.
 

Disciplinary Actions

Failure to comply with Atlantic Lottery policies can result in disciplinary action.

Disciplinary action involves four stages of consequences including: a warning letter, $500 non-compliance fee, $1,000 non-compliance fee, and termination of Retailer agreement.

Fraud Monitoring

Retail lottery transactions are monitored by Atlantic Lottery’s Investigation team. Transactions that are considered abnormal or excessive are investigated and reviewed to ensure policies are being followed and no fraudulent activity is taking place.

Win Investigations

All prize claims $10,000 or greater, or Related Parties wins $1,000 or greater, are reviewed by Atlantic Lottery’s Investigation team to validate ownership of the ticket before the prize is paid.

Our team is comprised of former law enforcement / security professionals with significant investigative expertise. The purpose of the review is to confirm, without a doubt, legitimate ownership of the ticket. The information gathered is cross-referenced with the transactional data associated with that ticket. If there is any doubt about legitimate ownership, the prize is not paid and further investigation is conducted. In the event that ownership is questioned, the Investigation team will conduct other investigative measures, including working with law enforcement if required, to validate ownership.

In addition, claimants for a prize $10,000 or greater, or Related Parties wins $1,000 or greater, are required to sign a Statutory Declaration before the claim can be processed. The Statutory Declaration is witnessed by a Commissionaire of Oaths.

Retailer and retail employee draw or sports wins of $1,000 or greater are subject to a mandatory 30-day review period, unless the ticket is stamped with the “Retailer Play” indicator.

Retailer and retail employees claiming Scratch’N Win prizes $10,000 or greater, and all other Related Parties claiming draw-based, sports, or Scratch’N Win are subject to the 30-day review period.

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Ticket Validation Testing

Our Retailers play a key role in ensuring we deliver a responsible lottery program.  Every year, selected retail establishments are visited by mystery shoppers to ensure they are adhering to our policies. Ensuring players sign their tickets, returning validation slips and paying out prizes correctly are examples of some of the important things we look for from our retailers during these visits. 

 
Compliance continues to be strong year over year. During fiscal 2018-19, overall compliance remained steady at 96%.

19+ Compliance Testing 

Part of our commitment to responsible gambling involves keeping lottery products out of the hands of minors by ensuring retailers also adhere to our 19+ policies, which prohibit the sale of our lottery products to any person under the age of majority. 

Overall 19+ Compliance for 2018-19 was 82%; up slightly from 81% in 2017-18. In support of stronger 19+ compliance, we plan to increase our communications efforts and continue executing our disciplinary approach involving non-compliance fees for non-complaint retailers. Disciplinary actions for non-compliant retailers in 2018-19 resulted in 16 $500 non-compliance fees, and one $1,000 non-compliance fee.  
 
In 2019-20, we will continue to work with our retail network to make adherence to our 19+ policies a priority. 

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Beginning May 14, 2019, Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 draws will be conducted using random number generator software, or RNG, in place of mechanical ball-drop machines.

The transition to RNG software improves ease of auditability to support the future evolution of these national games, while maintaining the security, speed and integrity of the draws. Integrity and security are at the core of every game we offer and fundamental to the success of our business.

Both the ball machine and RNG methods offer the same standards of security and integrity. Third-party experts have tested and certified the RNG software for randomness and a number of checks and balances are performed to ensure draw security.

Many of your favourite national lottery games already use RNG software, including Daily Grand, the guaranteed prize draw feature of Lotto 6/49 and the Maxmillions feature of Lotto Max. All of Atlantic Lottery’s regional draw games, such as Atlantic 49, have used random number generators since 2017.