What CBC Found
CBC's investigative team looked into the scratch ticket practices of the Western Canada Lottery Corporation — the gaming body that operates in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the northern territories — and found something that surprised a lot of buyers: tickets for games like Texas Hold'em Poker, Lucky 7s, and Set for Life were still being sold at retail locations after the top prizes on those games had already been won.
That means buyers were picking up tickets, sometimes spending $5, $10, or more, with no realistic chance at the jackpot — even though the game was still prominently on display at the counter.
⚠️ The fine print: WCLC's position was that a disclaimer printed on every ticket — "Some of the prizes on this ticket may already have been claimed" — was sufficient notice to buyers. Most people never read it.
WCLC's Defence: Check the Website
When pressed by CBC, WCLC pointed out that their website is updated on a weekly basis with prize availability data — showing which top prizes have been claimed and which are still out there. Technically, a buyer could look up any game before purchasing to see whether the jackpot was still alive.
In practice, almost nobody does this. You're standing at a gas station counter, you hand over your cash, and you scratch a ticket that has no top prize left. The information existed, but it wasn't front and centre — it was buried in a website and a fine-print disclaimer.
The investigation prompted WCLC to make changes to how prize information was surfaced on their website. A class action lawsuit was also filed in the wake of the CBC reporting. A Manitoba minister later stated that the scratch-and-win system could be revamped as a result of the scrutiny.
This Is Exactly the Problem Scratchers Edge Was Built to Solve
What the CBC investigation described is the same gap that motivated us to build Scratchers Edge. WCLC does publish prize remaining data — they just don't make it easy to use. It's a table on their website, updated weekly, that most buyers have never seen. We pull that data regularly, track how it changes over time, and present it in a way that's actually useful at the moment you're deciding what to buy.
When you open the Scratchers Edge dashboard, every active WCLC game shows you the current prize status at a glance — including whether the top prize has been claimed. A game where all the jackpots are already gone is flagged. A game where the top prize has been sitting unclaimed for months while the rest of the pool depletes is highlighted differently than a fresh launch.
ℹ️ How we track it: We monitor WCLC's prize tables across multiple snapshots over time. That lets us show not just what's left, but how quickly prizes are being claimed — so you can spot games that are nearly sold out versus ones that still have their best prizes available.
What to Do Before You Buy
The simple version: check prize availability before you hand over your money. It takes about 30 seconds and it tells you whether the ticket you're about to buy still has its top prize in play.
Here's how to do it using Scratchers Edge:
- Go to the dashboard and find the game you're considering.
- Look at the Top Prize column — it shows how many of the biggest prizes are still unclaimed.
- Check the depletion rate to see how fast tickets are being sold through. A fast-moving game with few prizes left is a different situation than a slow seller with most prizes still available.
- Use the Smart Picks tab to surface games with the most favourable combination of remaining prizes and sell-through rate.
None of this guarantees you'll win. But it does mean you won't be buying into a game where the prize you're hoping for was claimed six weeks ago.
A Live Example: Ticket #21402
This isn't just a historical problem. Right now, Scratchers Edge is tracking ticket #21402 — a game that appears to have been quietly pulled from stores, with 2 top prizes still unclaimed. Prize activity on this game has been flat for four to five months, and it can no longer be found at retailers, despite being listed as active with an expiry date coming up in June.
That's the second pattern the Harvey class action tried to address: not just selling tickets after prizes are gone, but pulling games before the top prizes are ever won. Buyers who purchased tickets on this game and didn't win the top prize never had a real shot — those prizes are still sitting there, but the game has effectively been taken off the market.
Whether this is an isolated case or a recurring practice is exactly the kind of thing long-term prize tracking can surface. Without data over time, there's no way to spot it.
ℹ️ How we know: Scratchers Edge tracks prize counts across multiple snapshots over time. When a game shows zero prize movement for months and then disappears from shelves before its expiry date, the data tells the story — even if WCLC doesn't announce it.
The Bigger Picture
The CBC investigation was focused on a practice that, legally, WCLC was permitted to do — there's nothing stopping a lottery from selling tickets after the top prize is gone, as long as the disclaimer is there. But legally permissible and genuinely fair to buyers are two different things.
The fact that a class action was filed, and that a minister publicly discussed revamping the system, suggests that public opinion landed pretty clearly on one side of that debate. Buyers reasonably expect that when a game is on sale, there's still something meaningful left to win.
Until the system changes — if it does — the best protection you have is the same data WCLC publishes, made easier to use. That's what we're here for.
⚠️ Responsible gambling reminder: Scratch tickets are a form of gambling. Only spend what you can afford to lose. If gambling is affecting you or someone you care about, visit responsiblegambling.org or call 1-800-522-4700.
Sources
This post draws on CBC's investigative reporting into WCLC scratch ticket sales practices. Scratchers Edge is not affiliated with WCLC.
- Lotteries selling tickets after big prizes already won, CBC finds — CBC News, original I-Team investigation
- Lottery operator tweaks website following CBC probe — CBC News, WCLC's response to the investigation
- Class action launched over scratch and win tickets — CBC News, legal fallout from the investigation
- Scratch-and-win ticket system could be revamped: minister — CBC News, government response