It’s now illegal to sell lottery tickets to anyone younger than 19 years old, the province announced Thursday.
That and several other regulations introduced by the alcohol and gaming division of the Labour and Workforce Development Department became law earlier this week.
But buyers shouldn’t notice any changes, since the Atlantic Lottery Corporation has been enforcing the regulations as policy for some time, said Dennis Kerr, the department’s executive director.
“The difference now is it’s taken out of their policy to do it and it’s now law of Nova Scotia,” he explained.
Some of the other new laws include that retailers can only pay out tickets that have been signed, must make results visible on a T-bar display and must return both tickets and validation slips to customers.
Kerr said the laws are a result of questions about the integrity of the lottery system that arose across the country in early 2007. Minister Mark Parent appointed an advisory panel to review operations in this province and consultations followed.
“It recommended more oversight,” he said. “Other jurisdictions in Canada have been making changes as well.”
There are about 1,300 lottery retailers in Nova Scotia, Kerr said. The laws also apply to those who sell online games and Keno, but VLTs are excluded.
