Small businesses that sell lottery tickets say the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is giving preferential treatment to a giant American multinational company.
Costco stores in B.C. are getting exclusive rights to sell Scratch and Win tickets called 20 Dollar Hit, along with special Christmas lottery packages.
However, if someone wins money on one of those tickets, they cannot redeem their winnings at Costco; they must take their ticket to a lottery retailer, many of which are small businesses.
“Ultimately, we are completely opposed to exclusives, especially to large U.S.-based multinationals,” Chris Burger, vice-president of the Rural Licensee Retail Store Advisory Society (RLRSAS), which works with about 230 rural licensee stores in B.C., said.
“We feel that these sorts of exclusives are not fair. We want fairness across the system. We want to be treated in the same way. We don’t want to see large companies be given special treatment over, born in B.C., often family-run retail stores — your corner store, for instance.”
Burger said that the rules around selling lotto tickets in B.C. are quite strict, but it appears that Costco are not being held to the same standards.
Shelly Wong, a spokesperson for the B.C. Lottery Corporation told Global News that the Costco lottery ticket is an experiment to gauge the interest as Costco is a popular shopping destination in the province.
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“BCLC partners with Costco Wholesale Canada, which is the Canadian entity of Costco,” she said.
“Costco Wholesale Canada employs 53,000 employees and has roughly 10 million members.”
Wong said the BCLC has partnered with Costco before.
“So when players go to other lottery retailers to validate or claim their prize, they may, in turn, purchase other products at these retailers, too,” she added.
However, Burger said they want a level playing field.
“It’s a lottery corporation here for the people of British Columbia, and we are those folks, and so we should be given the same access to products as anyone else,” he said.
“We don’t really even think there should be exclusives. We should just have the same standards across the board, and if you want to sell tickets, then you need to meet the same conditions that I would need to meet or any retailer in my position.”
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