New Brunswick's ombudsman says he's going to monitor Atlantic Lotto's attempts to protect consumers, but he doesn't think it will be necessary to launch an investigation as his Ontario counterpart has done.
 
A recent report by the lottery corporation found that some lottery ticket vendors were winning way beyond what is statistically probable. Similar problems were found in Ontario, and that province's ombudsman released a report on the situation Monday.

Ombudsman Bernard Richard says the Ontario report examined the Atlantic Lottery Corporation to some degree as well, so New Brunswick can refer to that document.

Richard also says he believes some ticket retailers have been committing fraud, but it would be hard to find the right kind of evidence.

"We're talking about fraud or stealing, essentially," Richard said Monday. "That's what it is and so if anyone has any indication they may have been defrauded or had something stolen from them, their ticket, they should report it to the RCMP."

Richard says he's confident the Atlantic Lottery Corporation has taken the proper steps to prevent fraud in the future. Still, he says he's going to keep an eye on how well the lottery corporation lives up to its promise of bringing in new measures to protect ticket buyers.

He says background checks, more possibilities for consumers to independently check their own tickets and encouraging people to sign their tickets are simple ideas that would make the lotteries fairer.

"I think what's important to do is to have enough dissuasive measures in place so that people are not tempted to steal so it's not that easy to steal."

Richard says it would be impractical to ban vendors or their families from buying tickets.

The New Brunswick ombudsman says he'll meet with fellow ombudsmen in Atlantic Canada, to see if anything else should be done to protect consumers.