Under the headline Lotto agents cheat alert, Kelvin Bissett, Investigations Editor for the Daily Telegraph demonstrates poor reporting skills. It’s what I’d call cut and paste journalism – there was no investigation. I’d say that someone had fed Mr Bissett the story and that he has published it without adequate investigation.
Is there a problem with newsagents cheating lottery customers and NSW lotteries? No!
Have agents been convicted? No!
So, what’s going on here? NSW Lotteries has always had control over the process of paying out major prizes. Their processes have been found to be flawed. Yet I the face of evidence of the flaws, NSW Lotteries did not act. Lottery licencees in other states did not and do not have the same process flaws as NSW Lotteries. NSW Lotteries knew this yet they persisted for years with prize claim processes which made it difficult for newsagents to protect customers.
NSW Lotteries has acknowledged culpability in this area by changing its prize claim processes in the last year. While the changes bring more certainty to the situation, they are not as robust as, say, Tattersalls where the customer must deal direct with Tattersalls for any major prize – over, say, $4,000.
A professional investigation by a professional journalist would have revealed that there is more to this story. They would have also uncovered other problems with lotteries, system problems at their end, which also have resulted in prize claim disputes.
no, this report in the Daily Telegraph reads like it has been placed. Maybe it is an attempt to spin public perception following the recent court case in NSW.
Newsagents are honest hard working small business people. Shame on the Daily Telegraph for running a half baked story targeting this small business group and ignoring the role played by the State Government owned NSW Lotteries.
Why was Bissett fed the story and by whom? What is really playing out here?