Re: Lotto licences pulled.
I like a good sting with criminals finishing up doing time.
But if what Arthur Williams wrote is correct, (and Arthur's good) then this series of actions by a quasi-government body is outrageous.
I seem to remember big-ish signs by the lotto cards saying that it is illegal to sell to anyone under 19 years of age. Isn't it therefore illegal to purchase said tickets, underage? Hasn't said under-age youth committed a crime by pretending to be of age?
Why hasn't said youth been arrested?
Isn't it illegal to encourage a youth to take part in an illegal act, i.e. buying a lotto ticket illegally?
Isn't it classified as entrapment to try to "fit-up" a law abiding business by such acts?
I don't see anywhere that the agent provocateur from Lotteries has been arrested and charged. Did I miss it?
Now BCLC might damned well take this matter seriously, but so should we. Not only are the stores being hammered by this blatant and flagrant disregard for the law, BCLC also attacks other parties who make their living from commissions on lottery sales.
Are they to be reimbursed for lost income by the serious Lottery Enforcement Branch?
Question: you must answer seriously. How many of you can tell the age of a 17, 18, or 25-year-old youth?
Question: When did we legislate away shop keepers' human rights to a lawyer? To representation? To be Canadians?
I really think that this specific situation is a human rights case and should be taken up by the BC Civil Liberties body.
This is nothing less than absurdity and the beginning of the slippery slope to totalitarianism.
A solution. Maybe the shopkeepers should close up shop and get a job working for the Government and steal millions of dollars belonging to the people of BC. They could sell a railway. But oops! They'd need to get into positions of trust in the Liberal Party to get their legal fees paid and be exonerated by the PM.
But remember: it starts with a lottery ticket.
Mike C. Shepherd
Prince George
