Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. says a $70 million Lotto Max ticket that had gone unclaimed for a year has not been physically validated and is now expired.
The ticket, drawn on June 28, 2022, was purchased at a lottery retailer in Scarborough. Players have one year to claim their prize.
As the deadline of 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28 passed, a physical $70 million winning ticket was not validated at an OLG terminal, the company said in a news release on Thursday morning.
If an attempt is made to validate the lottery ticket past the one-year expiry date, the OLG said the lottery terminal message to the customer will advise that the ticket has expired.
The OLG had launched an awareness campaign about the unclaimed jackpot ticket from that draw to jog the ticket owner’s memory. The OLG said it received more than 1,100 calls from people claiming to have lost their winning ticket.
“OLG is committed to always paying the right prize to rightful owner of a winning ticket,” it said in a statement.
The OLG said due to the high volume of lost ticket claims, a dedicated team of lottery investigators “need to take the time necessary to review all of the potential claims made before the expiry deadline.”
It said after the lengthy process is complete, the OLG will provide a further update on the prize.
If the $70 million Lotto Max ticket remains unclaimed, the prize money will be returned to players through future bonus games or promotions.
The OLG said the winning numbers for the June 28, 2022, Lotto Max draw are 8, 19, 22, 41, 42, 46, 47 Bonus 10.