Vivian Bechard of Burlington said she was sent away empty-handed by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation when she tried to claim a $50,000 prize from a Crossword scratch ticket.Treating ordinary citizens like criminals but letting the real ones get off with a slap on the hand.
"I have never been so depressed as the day I tried to get my money," she said.
Bechard is new to the area and couldn't remember where she bought her winning ticket -- a question the OLG wanted answered.
'A NIGHTMARE'
"They kept me in the waiting room for hours, then I went into a room with a man who had a tape recorder and the way he was talking to me was terrible," she said. "It was a nightmare. I was in tears. They made me feel like I stole the ticket."
Bechard and her sister-in-law booked a trip to the Dominican Republic to celebrate the win, but now she has to borrow money to pay for it because she hasn't received her prize.
The ordeal put her and husband Dan off playing the lottery again.
"I'll never buy another ticket again. It's a horror show," Dan said, noting they missed the RRSP deadline because of the investigation that the OLG launches into every win over $10,000.
Only in Ontario.
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6 comments:
RRSP deadline is Feb 28, 2008. One can use the deduction in 2007 or carry fwd to 2008.
Might be Feb 29 this year.
Ah-ha. Let's hope that Dan reads your comment, Mary T.
Striking similarities to the way legal gun owners are treated and the real criminals are codgled. Why is it that the establishment always seems to go off the deep? Where did common sense go?
It's the "low hanging fruit" theory. Way easier to fluff up the enforcement stats by grilling a poor woman who shows up at your office on her own than to actually go out and investigate truly suspicious cases. This theory is also quite popular with Social Services, Immigration Canada and Revenue Canada.
Not to excuse OLG's treatment but I believe that you should never ever spend money that you don't have yet if you can't afford it.
Tom, I agree.
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