VANCOUVER – The winning ticket from Tuesday night's $20 million Lotto Max draw was sold in a remote area of northern B.C. that has fewer than 800 residents.
The B.C. Lottery Corporation confirmed the ticket was purchased somewhere in the Stikine region, an unincorporated area bordering Alaska and the Yukon.
The Stikine region takes up a sizable part of the province, with a total area of 116,143 square kilometres, but is home to only about 740 people. Most residents can be found in the community of Atlin, which includes two Taku River Tlingit reserves.
A profile on the provincial government's website states that with the Stikine's "small dispersed population, and low total property assessment value, the region cannot support becoming a municipality or regional district."
Lottery officials said the lucky jackpot winner from the Oct. 29 draw hasn't come forward to claim the massive fortune. The BCLC won't be revealing where exactly the ticket was sold until someone does.
Lottery winners have 52 weeks from the draw date printed on the ticket to come forward – a rule some previous winners have taken full advantage of in B.C.
The Mayrhofer family waited 12 months before stepping forward to claim a $50 million Lotto Max prize back in 2015.
After keeping the province guessing for an entire year, the family revealed they had hoped to claim the winnings through a trust to keep their identities private – something lottery officials refused to allow for the sake of transparency.
