Retail owners in Atlantic Canada have been winning lotteries at rates 10 times higher than their statistical odds, confirms a review by the lottery corporation in the region.

"Can I statistically explain why retail owners are winning 10 times more? No, I can't," said Mike Randall, vice-president of social responsibility for the Atlantic Lottery Corp.

He added that he has not found evidence of wrongdoing, despite the higher than average win rates.

"If I had any evidence of wrongdoing, I can tell you that those retailers would no longer be retailers, we would take decisive action," he told reporters Wednesday.

"We would contact the local authorities and they would deal with this matter."

The review, confirmed by an outside firm, showed that retail owners claimed 44 prizes of $25,000 or more between 2001 and 2006.

Factoring in playing habits and the chances of winning, the retail owners should only have had 3.5 wins during the six-year time period.

Employees who sold lottery tickets at corner stores and other outlets had 25 wins during the same time period -- slightly higher than their expected number of 23.5.

In total, owners and employees won about $7.5 million over the six-year period.

New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham said the region's lottery system should be monitored closely.

"If there is (a problem), then we have to take immediate and appropriate actions, because we need to maintain confidence in the system," he said.

The corporation says they are implementing new policies and procedures to protect against fraud.

The agency plans to introduce screens that will face the customer -- directly displaying whether a ticket is a winner and how much was won.

Self serve machines are also being implemented to allow players to check their own tickets.

The corporation also plans to educate players on how to check their own tickets, receive validation slips from retailers and to become familiar with fraud prevention technology.

The Atlantic Lottery Corp. controls lotteries in all four Atlantic provinces.

Similar problems have been discovered in Ontario and a report, by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., is due out next month that will outline plans to protect against fraud.

With a report by CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw and files from The Canadian Press