A Court of King’s Bench imposed an economic “life sentence” on a woman who stole nearly half a million worth of scratch lottery tickets in one of the biggest lottery thefts in Canadian history.. Court of Kings Bench Manitoba .“In economic terms, such a finding amounts to the imposition of a life sentence,” wrote the court, noting it would take a minimum wage employee 14 years’ worth of earnings to repay the debt..“This seems cruel,” said the court, but issued an order stating the $425,756 must be repaid..A divorced single mother Cynthia Hallick worked as assistant manager at the Sportsman’s Stop Esso station in Dugald, MB, population 600..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Hallick’s gambling addiction was uncovered when an accountant examining the company books concluded that “the numbers for 2018 were not adding up.”.“He took a closer look at Sportsman’s three main sources of sales revenue — gas, tobacco and lottery tickets – and determined Sportsman’s was losing money on its lottery sales,” wrote the court..“It was impossible to lose on lottery sales since Sportsman’s only paid Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation for tickets sold and received a five percent commission on each sale. He concluded someone must be stealing tickets from Sportsman’s.”.Evidence showed Hallick stole scratch tickets by the $100 bundle during her shifts. The $425,756 represented the value of stolen tickets only. The court was not told how much she claimed as winnings from the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation..“Hallick stole scratch and win tickets from Sportsman’s, activated them, checked to see if they were winners and often redeemed winning tickets at the store,” wrote the court..“The amount Ms. Hallick may have won from stolen tickets is not known and does not form part of the claim against her.”.An investigation by Manitoba’s Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority concluded it could not begin to estimate “how much money might have been paid out to Ms. Hallick” over the eight years she worked at the gas station..“During Ms. Hallick’s shifts, ticket activations vastly exceeded ticket sales and winning tickets were redeemed at a significantly higher rate than usual,” wrote the court..The scratch ticket theft is among the largest documented by any Canadian court involving employee gambling addiction. In 2012, a Fergus, ON, clerk stole $722,119 from her employer over a four-year period and lost it all on slot machines..In 2004, an accountant with Alberta’s Blood Reserve School Bus Cooperative pled guilty to stealing $247,163 for gambling. In 2015, an RCMP clerk at Mission, BC, admitted to stealing $116,012 worth of money over four years, also for gambling.
