Major changes will affect Canadian lottery players’ privacy
Lottery players in certain parts of Canada are now affected by recent changes introduced by some corporations.
Two Canadian lottery corporations say they’ve added new measures this year to better protect winners’ identities.
British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) was the first corporation to implement changes to how it publicly announces winners. Previously, BCLC published media releases on its website that included winners’ full names, the community where they live, recent photos, and stories about their win.
However, as of Jan. 1, the corporation made a slight change, only including a winner’s first name and the initial of their last name on its website and media releases.
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“We decided to take this proactive step to ensure we can continue to support player trust and confidence and the integrity and security of our games while providing players with additional privacy,” said Shelly Wong, a BCLC spokesperson, in an interview with Daily Hive.
In April, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) said that winner releases will only include the initial of their last names. However, unlike BCLC, OLG winners who win $1,000 or more will still have their names published on the OLG website, where they will remain for 30 days.
In an email to Daily Hive, Tony Bitonti, director of media relations at OLG, stated that it’s important to find a balance between privacy and transparency.
“The internet and social media were also other considerations for this change,” he stated. “The winners’ stories live on forever on the web, versus the days when we only had access to printed newspapers that had a short life span.”
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Bitonti stated that they’ve seen an increasing number of scammers using winners’ pictures for social media schemes promising to share a portion of their winnings with people if they send $10 or $20 for shipping. He said that OLG has been working with Meta to take down these posts on Facebook and Instagram.
“This is another way to try to help protect a winner’s privacy while being transparent about who wins our lottery prizes,” he stated.
A spokesperson for Loto-Québec told Daily Hive that while winners’ full names are published on its website and in press releases for transparency, only their first names are shared on social media and on the ceremonial cheques used in photos.
A representative for the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) stated in an email that it is “not making any changes at this time.” WCLC handles lottery and gaming activities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, along with the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
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“We anticipate winners will have questions about publicity, and WCLC has discussions with winners during the prize claim process to ensure they know exactly what to expect when it comes to the publicity elements,” they stated. “WCLC publicizes wins with full winner names for transparency as part of the prize claim process.”
Daily Hive also reached out to Atlantic Lottery, but did not immediately receive a response. The organization operates lottery, casino, and sports betting products in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
Similar to WCLC, Atlantic Lottery publishes winners’ full names, according to its website, stating that it’s “committed to openness and transparency in every aspect of our operations.”
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“We recognize that it is fundamental for players to know whether the prizes that we promote have been won, and who has won them. That’s why we publicize our winners: it’s a crucial component of our commitment to social responsibility and fairness,” it states.
“We balance this with winners’ right to privacy, so we only publicize the personal information of our winners needed to meet the requirements outlined above.”
Altogether, it points to an ongoing balancing act for Canadian lottery corporations: keeping lottery wins transparent, while taking extra steps to protect winners’ privacy.
With files from Hanna Hett