Canada Lottery Winner Has Hours Left to Claim C$40 Million Prize

A ticking clock means a Canadian lottery winner has mere hours left to claim a C$40 million prize, according to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The winning Lotto Max ticket, purchased approximately one year ago in Grey County, Ontario, will expire at midnight on Wednesday.

Tony Bitonti, media relations coordinator for OLG, told CTV News that the corporation has been waiting nearly a full year for the ticket holder to come forward. He noted that it is particularly disheartening because the ticket was not checked via the OLG app or at a retail store.

The winning numbers for the jackpot are 06, 14, 17, 19, 26, 43, 45, with a bonus number of 27. OLG advises players to check common places where tickets might be misplaced, such as pockets of clothing, handbags, backpacks, wallets, and vehicle glove compartments.

If the prize goes unclaimed, the C$40 million will be retained by the lottery for future games. This is not the first instance of a large jackpot remaining unclaimed. On June 28, 2022, a winning ticket worth $70 million from a Lotto Max draw in Scarborough, Ontario, was never claimed, despite approximately 2,700 inquiries to OLG.

Atlantic Lottery, another government-operated lottery provider, reports that about one percent of prizes go unclaimed, though these are typically smaller amounts. In a separate recent win, an Alberta resident secured Canada's largest-ever lottery jackpot of $90 million, though the winner has not yet been publicly identified.