ALC cracking down on kids gambling

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation will launch a mystery shopper campaign in the new year to police how often retailers are selling lottery tickets to minors.

The Atlantic Lotto policy says stores aren't supposed to sell tickets to anyone under 18 years old.

The mystery shopper program, which will send young people into stores to try to buy tickets,is in response to complaints about a number of issues consumers have with Atlantic Lotto.

"Certainly since I would say the retailer win issue of just over a year ago, we're more than ever ensuring that retailers are compliant with the policies and procedures of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation," said Mike Randall of Atlantic Lotto.

The penalty for stores caught selling lottery tickets to kids won't change when the mystery shopper program begins.

Stores caught selling to minors will get a warning letter and repeat offenders could be suspended or have their contract with Atlantic Lotto terminated.

In 2001, CBC Radio sent three young people out to buy lottery tickets from 10 randomly selected stores across P.E.I.

A 12-year-old was able to buy a ticket at one store. A 15-year-old purchased tickets at eight of the stores and a 17-year-old at 10 out of 10 stores.

Atlantic Lottery Corporation has also started conducting surprise inspections in stores to try to prevent fraudulent retailer wins.

Inspectors are checking to see tickets are validated properly and equipment to detect fraud hasn't been disabled.