Montréal - Loto-Québec is presenting a positive assessment of its initiative to improve the payment of prizes to winners undertaken subsequent to the submission, last October, of the report prepared by the consulting firm of KPMG. Only six months after receipt of the report, all of its recommendations are in the process of being realized, and the Corporation expects that all the measures will have been implemented by April 2009.

After launching call for tenders by invitation, in April 2007, Loto-Québec awarded a mandate to KPMG to conduct an independent and exhaustive examination of the Corporation’s lottery ticket validation and prize payment processes and procedures. Subsequent to this risk analysis, in October 2007, Loto-Québec decided to implement the full set of 35 recommendations contained in the KPMG document. The Corporation’s commitment to continuous improvement was reinforced in light of the report of usurpation in Ontario, as reported by the media in the fall of 2006.

The principal members of Loto-Québec’s steering committee following up on KPMG’s recommendations, Lynne Roiter Corporate Secretary and Vice-President, Legal Affairs, Marcel Croux, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, and Robert Ayotte, President, Lottery Operations, presented to the media the progress made in the Corporation’s initiative.

Paying the right prize out to the right person

Integrity is at the heart of all of Loto-Québec’s operations, and the management of lotteries is no exception. The measures implemented over the course of the past several months consist primarily of establishing norms to standardize practices throughout the sales network. These norms are aimed at protecting consumers, retailers and their employees alike. Moreover, all retailers who wish to sell lottery products must be equipped with game terminals in order to standardize the network.

Already slated for installation, the new terminals constitute a strategic tool to help the Corporation successfully implement the numerous recommendations outlined in the KPMG report.

The members of the steering committee underlined that all measures related to the activities of the sales network, the claiming of prizes, and the management of complaints are aimed at ensuring that the right prize is always paid out to the right person.

Among the measures that have been implemented over the past six months:

• An extensive advertising campaign was launched and is continuing. It is designed to encourage consumers to endorse their lottery tickets upon purchase

• A new ticket validation procedure now applies calling for each ticket — whether it is a winner or not — to be returned to the consumer along with the validation coupon

• Winners must identify themselves when claiming a prize at Loto-Québec offices by presenting a valid piece of photo identification

• A new questionnaire has been developed for claims of prizes exceeding $600

• The retailer, security and win history registers are now available to employees of the Prize Payment and Security Departments

• A single new toll-free telephone number has been introduced

• Training has become compulsory for retailers and their employees

• The systematic recording of calls to Customer Service has been instituted

Subsequent to the incidents that occurred in Ontario, it was important for the Corporation to ensure that all the necessary actions were taken to prevent similar events from taking place in this province. The recommendations of KPMG constitute measures in addition to the practices that have guaranteed the integrity of Loto?Québec’s operations in the past, and they are aimed at further protecting the consumer.