$50 million Lotto Max ticket winner comes forward

WATCH: BCLC spokesperson Chris Fairclough tells Global News about the winning Lotto Max ticket being claimed and what’s next for the winner

VANCOUVER – A winning $50-million Lotto Max ticket has been presented to lottery officials, just days before the one-year deadline to claim the prize was set to expire.

The ticket, which was bought on March 14, 2014, was handed in on Monday and has been validated. It was purchased in Langley.

BCLC spokesperson Chris Fairclough confirmed to Global News that a genuine ticket was presented today.

Speculation about the winning ticket has been fuelled over the past year, with a daily newspaper in Vancouver marking the looming deadline this week with a front-page story.

Fairclough says he does not know why the person in question held on to their ticket for this long.

“I can say during my time at BCLC, this is the longest I have ever seen anyone wait to claim a prize,” he says.

1,700 people came forward to the corporation over the past year, claiming they had lost the ticket. “Specific to this March 14 draw, we’ve had nearly 300 different people come forward to claim the prize,” says Fairclough.

The next step for BCLC is to go through the winner verification process to ensure they are paying out the winnings to the rightful ticketholder.

In December, 2014, a woman filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming her co-worker is hiding the ticket that was part of a workplace pool.

The winning numbers are 3, 4, 5, 7, 31, 33, 40, with a bonus of 49.

-with files from Canadian Press