The Atlantic Lottery Corporation reveals that there has been an issue with the ticket scanner on its official app. According to the Crown agency, the problem with the tool prevented it from correctly displaying whether a ticket was a winning one. Thus, resulting in thousands of Canadian dollars in prizes remaining unclaimed by their respective holders.
ALC conducts responsible gambling and lottery across the four Atlantic provinces. Its shareholders are the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation, Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, Prince Edward Island Lotteries Commission, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Meanwhile, 100% of its lottery profits are reinvested into the provinces for a better tomorrow.
Issue Discovered with Ticket Scanner
In its press release, the Crown corporation elaborated that the issue within the mobile app occurred intermittently from October 16, 2023, through January 25, 2024. This error resulted in over CA$27,000 of total cash prizes not being claimed. However, the agency reported that this issue does not affect prizes of CA$1,027 or more.
Furthermore, the Crown stated that player who can be identified as logged into their alc.ca accounts when they scanned tickets during the error period, will be automatically accredited with the amount of their prize or prizes into the account. ALC also said that if anyone has a question or concern regarding the matter to feel free to contact the lottery at 1-877-252-3287.
Also, the lottery advises anyone who has tickets from the period mentioned above to rescan them as they may be winning ones. It explained that ensuring its players have received the prizes they are entitled to is of utmost importance to ALC. It recognizes its error resulting in a negative experience for customers. The issue will be further analyzed, to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.
Looking Back on Successful 2022-23
In the fall of 2023, ALC issued its annual financial report for the 2022-23 fiscal year, which yielded even better results than the one scored during 2021-22. It disclosed that iGaming operations also returned some hefty profits with revenue of approximately CA$100.1 million or 30% better than last fiscal year’s numbers. Currently, Prince Edward Island is the only one not to offer legal online casino.
In its report, the Crown agency also broke profit down by each province. Prince Edward Island clocked a net winning of CA$23.5 million or 59.7% more than the prior FY. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia’s cut increased to CA$160.4 million in 2022-23, while New Brunswick’s got to CA$163.9 million, and Newfoundland and Labrador received CA$148.6 million.
Another major milestone for the lottery from last year was the official launch of Newfoundland and Labrador’s regulated platform for online gambling. This arrived as a breath of fresh air for local gamblers, as the province is the only one without land-based casinos. But now, eligible locals can place bets from the comfort of their phones.
Source: Faulkner, James “Thousands of dollars unclaimed due to mobile ticket scanner issue: ALC” iHeartRadio, February 7, 2024
