Tattersalls has implemented a requirement in Queensland that Golden Casket retailers and their employees make purchases and claim prizes through a registered Winners Circle Card.
For many newsagents and their employees this is an additional cost of purchasing Casket tickets.
As someone mentioned to me yesterday, the policy shift would have been more palatable had they provided membership for newsagents and their employees at no cost.
I am writing about this to give newsagents a place where they can express their concerns – as with many blog topics here.
If I were affected by this move or representing newsagents affected by this move I’d want to know why the move is being made and what evidence they have that the previous arrangements and requirements had not worked.
Click on the image to read page 9 of the Golden Casket bulletin to retailers announcing the policy change.
This is the practice in NSW.
It is a good thing. There has been THREE newsagencies in my region who have been defrauded by staff through fraudulent activity with Lotteries products.
When hiring new staff we explain, quite forcefully, the implications of employee fraud, and stress they must purchase a Players Club card (as it is NSW) if they want to purchase Lotteries products.
We also explain it’s for staff’s very own security also. If they were to win a major prize, there would be no issues claiming that prize if they were registered.
In NSW it is not a requirement , but is strongly encouraged. It protects both the customer and the staff member. I register all my entries. I figure I will get my million dollar winnings sooner if I am registered !!
I could be wrong but I think it is compulsory in the ACT?
I’m NSW based and 100% agree with the previous two posts. For a very small cost it really does provide alot of protection for us, our staff and our customers.
In addition it isn’t necesarry to play lotto to sell lotto. It is each Agent/staff members choice to do so, so the small registration cost should be bourne by them.
but how does it stop fraudulent activity?
I agree Rick … how?
As one action alone it does not stop fraudulent activity, certainly.
But, combined with other initiatives by individual store owners it helps to minimise such activity. In NSW agents are required to hand all tickets winning or non-winning back to the customer.
I would suggest there is no one way to prevent fraudulent activity.
In the end the best way to prevent such activity is by keeping a constant eye on balancing your lotto on a daily basis.
My staff refuse to buy a card, they will purchase their tickets from another outlet now to save me from trouble. Their big issue? What if they want to buy a ticket as a gift?
Max, Network news on the 9th of Sep states that it will be a requirement from the 8th of ocober
This reeks of a cash grab pure and simple.
If Tatts is that eager to help stamp out fraudulent activity then pass the cards on to employees at no cost (that is my challenge to Tatts). I like how they have used the term “best practice”, my staff are not allowed to serve themselves now so how is a card going to make any difference.
Brett, what if there Mum wants to buy them a ticket as a present? Having our staff go elsewhere to purchase tickets is not going to help us in the least.
As Mark says “not indicative of a trust-based relationship” at all.
My understanding is that in NSW for any prize over $1000 it has to be claimed through the lotteries office only and as part of the claims process you do have to state if your a seller of lotteries products.
If you state you are, and the ticket is unregistered then there is an enquiry before it is payed out (which is when things like “it was a gift” can be tested). While not a perfect system this does provide some measure towards helping in stopping stolen tickets and or protecting a seller from someone saying they stole thier ticket.
There isn’t any requirement in the west to have retail staff register their tickets. Its up to the individual retailers to police any fraudulent activity in their stores, Lotterywest don’t get involved. We always check that the Lotterywest daily sales report corresponds with the till (and that there are no reversals done unauthorised on the till) and leave it at that.
This is a good policy, it will not solve all problems but it’s a step. MAX if you check a recent edition of network news then yes this is now policy, not just encouraged. Mark you complain about the cost to retailers and staff, I dont know how much registration costs in Queensland but in NSW it is as little as $3 a year. If you can not afford $3 for a rego then perhaps you need to take the time to evaluate whether or not you should be gambling in the first place. As for the agents complaining on this blog, stop being such tight arses, If the cost of a rego sends you under then don’t gamble your money on lotto.
Mark, my core concern is that it appears to be regulation without a purpose.
It prevents this from happening:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/02/1177788228072.html
The purpose of the regulation is another step to prevent what James has linked in with his comments in post14.
As Mark has mentioned in post12, why whinge about a $3 / year cost. It should be encouraged to ALL staff, if not for the safety concerning fraud, then for the safety of their own winnings if they happened to lose their tickets.
What is the cost of rego in QLD $50 or something? Come on we are talking about $5 per yr IF you want to gamble in your own shop, and your staff pay their own costs IF they want to gamble where they work. Not that big a deal guys.
James, thanks for the link. It does answer some questions and was an interesting read. Luke, my gripe is that it feels like a cash grab and if it’s not then issue the cards free of charge. There is still many other problems associated with this system like that of tickets given as gifts.
i still cant see how this would have been prevented if he had a winners circle card? i must be missing something really simple here
One would think the lotto mob would have all owners and staff names on a data base somewhere so at the end of the day they did not do their check ups before handing the cash over .when you do your staff lotto course surely they RecorD your name somewhere
They would only have record of nominee managers and outlet owners, not casual staff, plus it’s too much effort. Having staff and owners buying their own cards is the easiest way for tatts to implement this, and they get a nice bit of money in…
Still I doubt it will make a difference, not all customers have cards, and if a staff member was going to take a customer’s winning ticket to tatts (as in the news story), they could pretend they don’t work in an outlet.
For the record i do have a card and don’t really see an issue with having one its only $5 . With regards to the story the cards are only for the honest ones if you want to scam someone it is endless the ways you could go about it if you really wanted to think about it .
Steven all casuals still have to do the course here in QLD anyway so names would be recorded somewhere
I see. Interesting to hear to different rules in each state. In VIC the card costs $7.70 for one year.
Ok so after reading the SMH article I can see the potential for fraud over east. But here a division one winner must actually present themselves and the ticket at Lotterywest headquarters to claim the prize. Tickets are “bearer” tickets (ie the bearer gets paid.)
I agree that registration is a very minimal cost ($10 for life registration in WA) and is handy to have but I’m not sure its needed to prevent fraud.
As a NSW Lotteries agent I have been kept up to speed by my territory manager for 15 yrs now regarding fraud and lotto. It is quite an issue, and the agent is not always at fault, there are occasions where NSW Lotteries procedures have been thwarted. I fully support player registration, the cost to the individual is minimal and after all, it is discretionary gambling, not buying life-saving medication.
Unregistered tickets are open to unintended consequences.
Vicki, if you present yourself and the winning ticket to Lotterywest, how do Lotterywest know you are the OWNER of the ticket? If you are not, then the real owner has a case to claim against Lotterywest for paying out.
NSW Lotteries offer up to 5 yrs membership but I find it fascinating that almost everybody opts for just one year membership at a time. It must be a psychological thing, everyone thinks they will stop playing lotto soon because they will win big, or they won’t need to win big for some other reason! And yet, in my experience, folk who win just play more !!!
I think there are more thing then this to talk about ,what about all the checking ,swiping the card more and more .In the last year around 20% more work no more money and also the result from the ACCC . What happens if you play an entry with you staff and no card !
there are always what ifs , Bill if you are checking more tickets with a bit of luck that means you sold more tickets
h, my understanding of the “bearer ticket” is that whoever is bearing the ticket is considered the owner, regardless of who bought it. I understood the 14day verification period was to ensure no other claim of ownership arose, which would then delay payment until it was sorted out.
what is the ruling for when a ticket is left behind that is not on a card and weeks go by and no one picks it up , what would be the rules for that one (probally should know but i don’t)
@H I always hear the reason for the One Year renewal is they might not live longer lol Horses for Courses!
Shaun S,
From memory you return to GC on a claim form as a “left in store” so if a customer contacts them they may be able to pass it back after doing checks.
What if I or myself pay for Lotto purchases with a debit card? Time, date and amount of purchase……..
“I or my staff”*
Someone at NSW lotteries has obvously read this blog as terminal message this morning states, all Retailers and staff from Oct 8th must be registered to a players card.
Greg, I think that is what started the blog . Today is the date it starts