Montpelier — The head of Vermont’s Lottery Commission has issued a report calling for administrative and policy changes following a VtDigger investigation that found that lottery agency owners, employees and their relatives were winning with eyebrow-raising frequency.

In “More Than Luck? VtDigger Investigates Big Wins on Small Games,” reporter Katy Savage found at least 117 retailers, or those close to them, had won a major lottery prize from scratch tickets — defined as $600 or more, the lowest level at which the state keeps track for tax purposes — between 2011 and 2016. Collectively, they won nearly $1.8 million. Employees at 29 convenience stores claimed more than $1.4 million in prizes from stores they worked at, or formerly worked at, or from neighboring outlets.

Two store clerks made more than $200,000 on scratch tickets over that same period, VtDigger reported. Typical individual wins on the Pick 3/Pick 4 games are a few hundred dollars.

In late April, Gov. Phil Scott asked Daniel Rachek, the lottery’s executive director, to “verify and confirm the integrity of our lottery is intact,” setting a deadline for a report by the end of May.

Most of Rachek’s report, sent to VtDigger on Monday afternoon, is a description of the processes and security protocols used by the lottery and its partners, and a person-by-person review of the big winners highlighted in the article.

This includes data analysis and follow-up interviews the director conducted with those individuals, as well as statistical experts who were quoted in the initial article.

Rachek, a forensic accountant and the former head of the Vermont FBI, reports no wrongdoing, and concludes without exception that their winnings are plausible. A law enforcement investigation has not been undertaken.

“The assessment shows that the Vermont Lottery utilizes industry standard security measures for both instant and online tickets,” Rachek wrote in an email summarizing the report. “There was no evidence found indicating a lack of compliance with state statutes by agents or employees.”

When it comes to the crux of the story — that store owners, ticket sellers and their relatives seem to be winning at inexplicably high rates across the board — the report does not attempt a statistical analysis or response.

Rachek’s report offers a breakdown of total winnings by “lottery agents” from 2011 to 2017, the same period scrutinized by VtDigger. Agent wins are tracked through a self-reporting process (under penalties of perjury) for store owners or clerks who claim prizes of $500 or more.

According to Rachek’s report, lottery agents received 2.33 percent of total winning claims and 6.48 percent of all monetary winnings during that period, including a million-dollar Powerball winner. Agents also accounted for 6.25 percent of the 880 individuals who won at least $7,500 and had more than one win during this period.

“There are two unknowns to consider when deciding if 6.48 percent is too large of a percentage for agent wins: how many agents/employees and family members play and how much do they spend,” the report says.

The report, however, doesn’t answer that question. The Vermont Lottery Commission doesn’t track the number of employees, store owners and their relatives who buy tickets, nor does it keep tabs on total amounts spent.