TORONTO - Feeling lucky, punk?
An Ontario lottery player's windfall -- then downfall -- earlier this week is an ironic reminder that for those with something to hide, going for the big win just might not be worth the gamble.
Barry Shell, of Brampton, Ont., had a cheque for $4.4 million in hand and mugged for the money shot Monday before being swiftly carted off to jail on outstanding criminal charges.
The skeletons came tumbling out of Shell's closet on account of the simplest of reasons -- he failed to provide the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. with proper ID during the routine processing of his winning ticket. An arrest warrant had been issued in 2003 after he didn't show up for a court date.
All Ontario lottery winners of prizes $1,000 or more are subject to certain checks, with a more thorough investigation when the claim is for $10,000 or more, or, by a lottery retailer. But scrutiny has shot up in recent years since lottery officials aimed to mend broken public trust following a protracted scandal involving lottery insiders, including retailers and their families, cashing tickets not their own.
Officials say the resulting relationship between the corporation and Ontario Provincial Police, which began January 2008, has nabbed a few extra bad guys along the way -- and without compromising consumer privacy.
The arrest was an unfortunate and unexpected side effect for Shell.
"It's not very frequent at all. But it's not very frequent someone wins $4 million either," said Staff Sgt. Bill Price, in the provincial police's arm of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
"There has been other instances very similar, ... where somebody came to claim a lottery prize and it was found out they were wanted by another police service."
For lotto players not on the lam, other unlucky fallout in Ontario and places in Western Canada could land on those shirking child payment support. Both the Ontario corporation and Western Canada Lottery Corporation, which governs the Prairies and the North, are obligated by law to check whether a claimant owes and can ship off the winnings towards support of the children.
But for those who as a general rule play the game of life safely, the prospect of freaky fallout shouldn't faze.
"Certainly we want people to play our games, to enjoy our games, to live the dreams and to think about them as is typically suggested in our marketing," said Don Pister, an Ontario lottery spokesman.
"But also in terms of the responsibility of the organization, that it does go beyond that. Our focus is to ensure that we're paying the right prize (to the right person)."
"But it also does mean that as information comes to us under certain circumstances, we're required to bring the information to police."
Ontario lottery staff always sit down with ticket-palming potential winners to collect basic identifying information that ensures they're the rightful owner. If any red flags are raised, such as an inability to describe where they purchased the ticket, police are notified, Pister said.
While he couldn't provide further detail on what other questions are asked to verify the claim for security reasons, Pister said the corporation strictly follows Ontario privacy laws and won't pass personal information elsewhere.
"The protection of privacy and the questions that we ask and the information that we are allowed to gather, and retain, deals with the prize claim itself. That is our focus and that is our goal," he said.
He added: "In this (Shell's) case, the prize was paid."
