HALIFAX -- The Atlantic Lottery Corp. did a great public relations job this week talking about retailers’ wins, but that’s not enough to put lotto players’ minds at ease, Liberal gaming critic Leo Glavine said Thursday.

Mr. Glavine said he wants an independent review of the corporation’s practices and winners after the corporation itself released information showing retailers won prizes of at least $25,000 10 times more often than statistical probabilities indicated they should have between Jan.1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2006.

"We were getting, I think, a great communications and messaging job (Wednesday)," Mr. Glavine said.

"This is going to, I think, continue a cloud of suspicion until there are some final determinations of why this rate of winning exists."

After releasing the numbers Wednesday, corporation vice-president Mike Randall said he couldn’t explain why the rate of retailers’ wins was so high. But he said officials found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr. Randall said he received a letter from Mr. Glavine asking that the corporation review its practices, but it doesn’t specifically ask for an independent review.

The corporation did hire a statistician to analyze the number of wins by retailers and retail employees.

Robert Dawson, a mathematics professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, said the results of the lottery corporation’s review simply don’t add up.

"The rates of lottery wins among store owners are very much higher than could reasonably have (happened) by chance, unless they’re hugely under-reporting their rates of ticket purchase," Mr. Dawson said after taking a look at the numbers.

"If they were buying 10 or 15 times as many tickets as they told the lottery officials that they were during the study, then this could explain the rate of wins," Mr. Dawson said.

But he said there’s no way store retailers are just luckier than other people.

"The probability is just so far beyond the probability of one person winning the lottery on the only ticket they ever buy, there’s just no point in writing down all the zeros."

Mr. Randall said he would be happy to talk about the review and its findings.

"We went through every winner and reviewed," said Mr. Randall, who is responsible for social responsibility and communications.

"We matched it up, and was there any correlation to any complaints we received through our lottery support services during that period of time? No. Were there any patterns, were there any repeat winners? No. Was it any particular game? No. We did that extensive review. This has been hundreds of hours in the making over the last few months."

Mr. Randall noted the corporation has taken, and is taking, steps to improve players’ protection and system security. He also encouraged all players to sign their tickets when they buy them.

New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that lottery officials in Atlantic Canada should conduct a "comprehensive" study into the situation to ensure there were no irregularities.

The corporation started its review in the fall after media requests for information on retailers’ wins. A story on CBC television’s Fifth Estate about suspicious wins in Ontario prompted the media requests here.

( djackson@herald.ca)