Could you be sitting on $25 million? Officials say a winning ticket for last week’s Lotto Max draw that was sold in Metro Vancouver still hasn’t been claimed.
Two winning tickets were sold for Friday’s massive $50 million jackpot – one in Burnaby and the other in Orillia, Ont.
But while Ontario couple Susannah and Ron Higgs were quick to cash in their jackpot ticket, the winner of B.C.’s prize remains a mystery.
BC Lottery Corporation spokeswoman Kim Steinbart said winners have up to one year to come forward, and it’s not uncommon for recipients to take their time.
“It’s a very big thing so they might want to let it sink in or talk to a financial advisor before they come in and claim the prize,” Steinbart said.
“It could be that they’re just on vacation right now and don’t even know that they have the winning ticket.”
The prize marks one of the biggest seen in the province in recent years, following a $50 million jackpot won in Vancouver in 2010 and hauls of $35 and $30 million won in Campbell River and Abbotsford in 2011 and 2012.
Burnaby lottery ticket retailer Theresa Tang says she’s hoping the latest winner was purchased at her booth in Metrotown Mall.
“It will probably bring us a lot of business, a lot of people, and we are going to have a celebration if the ticket [was] sold here,” Tang said.
Winning tickets for almost $4 million and more than $4.5 million have already been purchased at the booth, in 2004 and 2007.
“I consider that this is my lucky booth because obviously it’s doing pretty, pretty good,” Tang added.
The BCLC says the odds of winning a jackpot are one in 28,633,528, and the most commonly drawn number in Lotto Max jackpots is 34.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Nafeesa Karim
