Data Analysis and Retrieval Technology

[Grizzly Joe]

Background Information: DART System
September 29, 2010
Origins of DART

A 2009 audit commissioned by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and conducted by Deloitte Canada recommended a strengthening of OLG’s efforts to ensure the integrity of its lotteries and prevent insiders and others from engaging in fraudulent activity. In particular, the audit recommended the enhanced use of data analytics to find and combat specific instances of fraud.

Working with hardware from Hewlett-Packard and software from Microsoft, OLG developed a first of its kind, powerful analytic tool that provides instant and sophisticated access to billions of lottery transactions dating back to 1999. OLG calls this system, Data Analysis and Retrieval Technology (DART).

Searches that used to take weeks to conduct can now be completed in seconds or minutes, empowering OLG – and, where appropriate, our regulator the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to more quickly identify play patterns that can help confirm legitimate winners and help identify potentially fraudulent behaviour and claims.

DART builds on other recent OLG anti-fraud and player protection initiatives, delivering on the corporation’s pledge to better protect those who play its games and lotteries.

The Power of DART

OLG processes more than 1.2 billion lottery transactions a year. DART now empowers OLG to search its massive record of lottery transactions much more quickly than ever before. Searches that used to takes weeks to process and retrieve, now literally take seconds, speeding up investigative queries exponentially.

For example, recently, a multi-million dollar jackpot winner took longer than usual to come forward to collect their winnings. There was a lot of speculation as to who was holding the lucky ticket. Knowing the winning numbers, DART was able to:

• Tell us the winner had checked their ticket at a self ticket checker the morning after the draw and re-checked the ticket at another self ticket checker three days later.

DART also created a play pattern of that ticket and revealed:

• The winning numbers came from a free ticket generated from several other free tickets, and smaller prizes that originated from a $12 lottery purchase made 8 months earlier.

This was all done in a matter of seconds. This information was used in the validation process and confirmed by the ticket holder when they came to claim their money at the OLG Prize Centre.

Interesting Facts - DART’s Capabilities
• The DART environment will hold all Lottery transactions since 1999 to the tune of 11.6 billion transactions (44 billion rows)

• Printed on 8.5” by 11” paper, the 3.5 terabytes of data in DART would circle the earth 13 times.

• With annual transactions of 1.2 billion, the DART environment is:
o twice the size of the annual VISA transactions processed for the people of Ontario (estimated at 644 million)
o 5 times larger than TSX’s annual transactions (estimated at 191.3 million).

Note to Media: OLG will provide technical briefings and behind-the-scene tour of DART upon request. Please contact Media Relations for details.
____________________

WHERE WINNING TICKETS WERE SOLD

OLG is using the new technology called the Data Analysis and Retrieval Technology (DART) system to compile a list of retailers in Ontario who have sold winning tickets of $10,000 or more.

Below is a list of retailers where winning tickets were sold, organized by the value of the ticket sold in their store. To view only retailers in a specific region or community, click the "Select Region" menu.

For regions with several pages of retailers who have sold winning tickets of $10,000 or more, you can narrow your search using postal codes. After selecting a Region, click the "Select Postal Code" menu and choose the first three (3) characters of the postal code that may be closest to your area of interest.

OLG

[7thHeaven]

Thanks for posting, Joe. Powerful stuff no doubt. I hope the technology is put to good use i.e. weeding out fraudsters and cheaters and leaving us honest and hard-working Proline players alone