Thursday, July 20, 2006

As reported by the Vancouver Sun: "Chances are you're dreaming of winning
the jackpot if you blow a few dollars on the lottery, and that dream will
die when the numbers are drawn -- at least until the next chance. "Much
surer bets are that the individual who sold your ticket will make money,
along with three levels of government, numerous non-profits and everybody
else involved in every facet of British Columbia's $2.26-billion
government-controlled gambling industry. ".Prizes to lottery and bingo
winners accounted for $641.5 million or about 31 cents of every dollar
wagered in the 2005-06 fiscal year, according to the B.C. Lottery Corp.'s
annual report released Monday. The lottery gave B.C. 14 instant millionaires
over that time (13 of the 14 collected $2 million or more).

"But the biggest winner was the B.C. government. It scooped up $914.4
million, or about 45 cents of every dollar, up $103 million from the
previous year. Lottery retailers and casino and bingo service providers
divvied up $483 million, about 23 cents of every dollar, up from $409
million in 2004-05.

".In addition to $32.9 million in GST revenues, Ottawa collected $8.3
million from B.C. under a long-standing agreement with the provinces on the
withdrawal of the federal government from the lottery field."