Tuesday, March 27, 2007

At a news conference in Toronto, Canada on March 26, 2007, Ontario Ombudsman André Marin called on the provincial government to transfer regulation of its lottery system from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. This request follows an investigation the ombudsman’s office undertook, 3 months ago, into the allegations of theft and fraud carried out by ticket retailers.

The results of the investigation into the allegations were detailed in Marin’s report, entitled A Game of Trust, released earlier in the day. The OLG has been ordered to transfer relevant files over to the Ontario Provincial Police, to determine whether a criminal investigation is warranted.

“The OLG is fixated on profit rather than on public service,” Marin suggested in his opening statement. “It is too close to its retailers, who are not just its frontline sales force but some of its best customers,” he continued. “It has lost sight of the fact that it is supposed to be a guardian of the public trust.”

The investigation was launched by Marin at his own intitiative, rather than inresponse to an individual complaint. Ombudsman investigators looked into the case of Bob Edmonds, a 78-year-old man who was cheated out of a CA$250,000 winning ticket by an unscrupulous retailer, as highlighted in a CBC television exposé. Over the course of the investigation, the Ombudsman’s Office received more than 400 other complaints related to OLG.

Marin indicated that, since 1999, “at least 247 retail owners or their employees have won major lottery prizes”, some of which he acknowledged were legitimate. He also reported that the OLG paid out “millions of dollars in prizes to retailers making dishonest claims…in amounts anywhere from $250,000 to $12.5 million.”

Marin found a systemic pattern of wrongdoing by some retailers, who he deemed to be the OLG’s “partners in profit”, with the OLG overlooking the abuse. Marin suggested that rather than get tough, “the OLG actually considered relaxing the rules on insiders.”

In his report, Marin proposed 23 recommendations including a zero-tolerance policy for retailer dishonesty, an adjudicative process to deal with disputed prize claims, a retailer code of conduct and the use of “secret shoppers” to test the retailers adherence to it.

“We accept the findings of these reports and the organization is moving quickly to implement the recommendations,” said OLG Board Chair Michael Gough in a news release. “OLG has learned a great deal from the Ombudsman’s report. It is fair, comprehensive and thoughtful,” continued Gough.

The total revenue from lotteries to the provincial government in Ontario for fiscal 2005-2006 was CA$6.36 billion. News of the resignation of OLG’s CEO Duncan Brown, was reported just days before the ombudsman’s report was tabled.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

The United Kingdom is set to become the second European country to place graphic images on cigarette packets. 15 different images are to be placed on the packs of all brands of cigarettes. They will be introduced on October 1. The images will be introduced onto all other forms of tobacco by 2010.

The written warnings were introduced in 2003 and have been deemed a success by the Department of Health. A spokesman said that the written warnings had been a success with research showing more than 90,000 smokers had been motivated to call the NHS quit line because of them.

Despite being the only the second country in Europe to introduce the images several other countries have already placed them onto packets. These include Canada, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand and Singapore.

Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: “Written health warnings have encouraged many smokers to stop. These new stark picture warnings emphasis the harsh health realities of continuing to smoke.”

Not everyone is welcoming the new images. The smoking lobby group, Forest, said smokers were being unfairly targeted and called the images intrusive and offensive. Simon Clark, director of Forest, said the group supported education efforts “but these pictures are designed not just to educate but to shock and coerce people to give up a legal product”.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Supreme Court in Lausanne, Switzerland has ruled that Texas hold ’em poker is a game of luck, rather than a game of skill. As a result, only casinos can host poker tournaments in Switzerland. Private games with friends, even where money is at stake, are still permitted under the ruling.

Poker tournaments had been growing in popularity in the country, with many events held in hotels and bars. Such venues do not have to pay the 50% tax on profits levied on licensed casinos, nor comply with regulations combating money laundering and gambling addiction. Poker is now categorised alongside roulette and slot machines, which as games of luck can only be played inside casinos. Mathematics, strategy, and bluffing were less important in determining the result than chance, said the judges, overturning a lower court ruling to the opposite effect, and disagreeing with the stance of the country’s Federal Gaming Commission.

Before the ruling, it had been estimated by the Swiss Federation of Casinos that there were about 100 unlicensed poker tournaments every weekend. A Swiss poker website, SwissPokerTour.ch, has described the result as “a black day for all amateur poker players in Switzerland.”

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Homebush Bay, New South Wales —Last night, the Australia men’s national wheelchair basketball team beat Japan 80–49 in their final game of pool play at the Rollers & Gliders World Challenge taking place at at the Sport Centre at the Sydney Olympic Park and are through to the first place match.

The contrast between the two teams was seen in their wheels: almost every Australian player had a four wheeled chair that gave them increased stability while every single Japanese player had three wheels, which gave them great maneuverability. Japan played the aggressor throughout the match, with several players aggressively blocking with wheelchair on wheelchair contact. Both sides were loud, chanting defense, defense, defense when their side was on that side of the court.

The first quarter was closely fought, with Japan racking up 5 by 5:54 left in the first. They successfully took a lead of 17–16 by the end of the first quarter. They were unable to hold the lead, with Australia holding a 40–24 lead at the end of the first half. Australia’s lead at the end of the third was 61–34. While Japan increased their total points in the fourth quarter, they failed to defend against Australia who continued to answer back basket for basket for the game to end 80–49.

Australia plays in the first place match later today. Their London Paralympic campaign starts on August 30 against South Africa.

Monday, June 25, 2018

On Saturday, the plastic ban in the Indian state of Maharashtra came into force. In an attempt to minimise pollution, the state government has introduced a ban on single-use plastics.

The leader of the Yuya Sena political party, Aaditya Thackeray, said on Twitter, “The ban on single use disposable plastic cups, plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic plates and cutlery, styrofoam cutlery and non woven bags”. He added, “these are global issues now and we have taken a step to combat it”.

Plastic pollution has led to the choking of drains, marine pollution and a risk of animals consuming plastics. This year, India’s motto for World Environment Day — June 5 — was “Beat Plastic Pollution”. People violating the plastic ban are to face a fine of 5,000 Indian Rupees (INR) for the first offence. For the second offence, the fine is INR 10,000 and the third time offence is INR 25,000 and a three-month prison term. Deputy municipal commissioner Nidhi Choudhary said, “To weed out corruption, we plan to give inspectors payment gadgets for electronic receipts of the fines”.

The Maharashtra government has given a 90-day period for manufacturers to dispose of existing polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PETE) plastic spoons and plates, while shopkeepers and citizens in general have six months to dispose of plastics. However, the ban does not prohibit plastic usage for wrapping medicines or milk cartons thicker than 50 microns.

The state government had announced the decision for the plastic ban on March 23. According to NDTV’s report, Maharashtra is the eighteenth Indian state to enforce a state-wide plastic ban. Aaditya Thackeray also said, “I congratulate the citizens for making this into a movement, even before the ban was enforceable, giving up single use disposable plastic.”

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A man missing from a camping ground in southern Utah in the Western US since July 30 was found in Australia. His automobile was found in a campground of Dixie National Forest with a note that he would be back in a few hours. An extensive search and rescue operation was conducted to try to locate this hiker by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Utah.

Investigators in the Sheriff’s Office were able to track him down to Cairns, Queensland. Apparently before he was “missing”, he bought a one-way ticket to Australia. Bryan Butas, the missing hiker, apparently had been under a great deal of stress and “got sick of it all”, according to a telephone interview by the Associated Press.

Butas has been charged with insurance fraud, a second-degree felony, by Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap. This was because Butas plotted to obtain a $250,000 life insurance policy before faking his own disappearance. He has also been given a bill for $20,000 by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for their search and rescue operations on his behalf.

His wife and children have since his disappearance moved to the wife’s parent’s home in Ohio. Butas’s parents came to Southern Utah to help in the search and were “embarrassed and shocked” to learn their son had merely run away from marital and financial difficulties, Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said.

Washington County Sheriff Sgt. Jake Adams said his investigation included tracing an application Butas made for a passport, his purchase of a one-way airline ticket to Australia, and the life insurance policy that names his wife and children as beneficiaries. On August 18, Adams said Butas’s mother called him to say her son had called home the evening of August 11, several days after the search was officially called off for the missing man. Butas asked his mother for money and an airline ticket home, which she sent.

Butas has since been checked into the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Brecksville, Ohio, according to Adams, but will shortly return to Utah.

A compilation of brief news reports for Tuesday, June 12, 2007.

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra may return to Thailand if he wishes, interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said today.

Thaksin’s lawyer, Noppadon Pattama, indicated that Thaksin, in exile since a coup led by Sonthi last year, will soon return to Thailand so that he may appeal the seizure of his assets by the Assets Examination Committee.

Related

• “Ex-Thai PM Thaksin’s assets are frozen” — Wikinews, June 11, 2007

Sources

• “Thaksin will return very soon: lawyer” — The Nation (Thailand), June 13, 2007
• “Thaksin ‘free to return'” — Bangkok Post, June 12, 2007
• Thai News Agency. “Thaksin can return home: Thai PM, junta chief” — MCOT, June 12, 2007

Royal Malaysian Police Inspector-General Musa Hassan said at a maritime security meeting today that there is a “real and possible” threat of terrorism in the Strait of Malacca, which is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

The strait, through which passes 40 percent of the world’s trade, has had a drop in incidences of piracy, but Hassan says he fears a LP gas vessel could be commandeered for a suicide mission.

Sources

• Agence France-Presse. “Malaysia warns of ‘possible’ terror threat in Malacca Straits” — Channel NewsAsia, June 12, 2007
• Sean Yoong, Associated Press. “Terrorism risk high in Malacca Strait” — Forbes, June 12, 2007
• “Malaysia sees threat of terror attacks in Malacca St” — Reuters, June 12, 2007