Yellowknife (Feb 09/05) - Yellowknife Legion president Lloyd Lush says he has asked his branch manager to pay back the $5,900 he won during a wheel of fortune game last October.

Lorne Power's win drew the ire of several club members, who felt because he was a staff member he shouldn't have been allowed to claim the prize.

Former club member Jim Kipling complained to the City, after which it was discovered that the Legion had been conducting lottery games without a licence since July 1.

Lush said Power agreed this week to pay back the $5,900. It will be added onto this Friday's jackpot draw at the club.

"After looking at the city bylaw, it states in there that the authorized representative is not supposed to participate in any lotteries," said Lush.

"Although the lottery licence was not valid, if he had renewed the licence he would've been the licensed representative."

Lush said Power usually signed the lottery licence when it came up for renewal every six months, but it went overlooked when it was due last June.

After the Legion discovered its licence had expired, Lush said he signed a new one in December - making him the authorized representative.

Lush said since the wheel of fortune incident in October, the Legion executive has made it club policy not to allow staff to participate in raffles.

"As soon as we had a complaint about Lorne winning the money," said Lush of when that decision was made.

The club president said he has pleaded guilty on behalf of the Legion for operating a lottery without a licence. Under city bylaw, the first offence penalty is a $500 fine.

City Hall is also investigating the amount of lottery proceeds the Legion gives to charities. City bylaw states that lottery licence-holding clubs must give at least 55 per cent of their net proceeds to charity.

Lush said the Legion is attempting to rectify the situation with the city. The Legion insists it hasn't misspent any money earmarked for charities. The money is still there, but there simply haven't been enough requests for it, said Lush.

It has been a difficult couple of weeks, Lush said.

Late last month, the Legion club president faced a Legion command tribunal, who were in Yellowknife investigating a complaint that Lush broke Legion rules by going public about former cabinet minister Henry Zoe's bad behaviour at the club one evening last May.

Lush said when news about the lottery licence charge broke last week, he was forced to come home early from his vacation to deal with it.

He said the Legion has given out over $400,000 to charities since he became president three years ago. He vowed he will not resign.

"There's no wrongdoing going on at the Legion," said Lush.

"I plan to carry on as president and make as much money as we can for the community. It's a privilege to stand up and give somebody a $10,000 cheque."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem, meanwhile, said the city is currently in "favourable discussions with the Legion" in regard to its investigation of their lottery proceeds.

"They do a lot of good stuff and people are trying to work it out," said Van Tighem.