Moncton-based lottery in process of adopting recommended improvements

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A forensic audit of Atlantic Lottery Corporation's workings has uncovered a host of issues, but 90 per cent of them have already been addressed as recommended, the lottery says.

"The other 10 per cent will be addressed in this fiscal year," ALC spokesman Robert Bourgeois says.

KPMG was asked by the four Atlantic provinces that own ALC to review their operations. That request was spawned after an earlier review raised security concerns over lottery operations right across Canada. The original review covered a range of issues, including retailers ripping off lotto winners to internal security issues.

KPMG found nine high-risk issues, 18 that were deemed a medium risk and 25 that were a low risk. Most high-risk issues involved Charlottetown's racino, where technicians enjoyed wide access to the facility's computer systems. Those have been addressed, the report states.

Some employees could get their hands on sensitive information, despite the fact their jobs didn't require them to have access. Such information included winners' names and other personal information, the report states.

The report does not mention any cases where players' personal information, information on tickets or computer access had been misused.

The findings were released to ALC in January but only yesterday to the public. Bourgeois says the report is not shocking.

"We do a lot of regular internal reviews. And we have auditors here for every draw," he said.

However, the lottery thought the more in-depth review by a third-party was a good idea and threw its doors open to investigators.

Concerns came to light at lotteries across the country when an Ontario lottery winner accused a retailer of pocketing his winnings.

A probe last year in Atlantic Canada revealed that ALC retailers won lotteries at a rate 10 times more than statistically probable. The investigation also found incomplete investigations in several wins that were thought to be questionable, and the corporation lost track of 16 files that warranted an audit.

At the Charlottetown Driving and Entertainment Centre, KPMG cited security weaknesses that let electronic game device technicians have full access to the complete central video lottery gaming server, which would allow them to alter individual games and even payouts.