Clock ticks down for Canada lotto winner to claim massive prize

Time has almost run out for a lottery winner in Canada to claim C$40m (£21.4m) in prize money, according to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

The winning ticket will expire on Wednesday "unless the rightful ticket holder comes forward", OLG said.

The corporation said the Lotto Max jackpot ticket was purchased a year ago at a retailer in Grey County, Ontario. The county - which includes the Blue Mountains and Owen Sound - is a popular tourist destination, which means someone may have bought the ticket and forgot to check it after coming home.

OLG told CTV News that the "sad part" was that the ticket had not been checked on the OLG app or at the store. It expires at midnight.

"We've been waiting, almost a year. It's going to be a year in a little less than 24 hours," Tony Bitonti, the media relations coordinator for OLG, told CTV.

OLG said the winning numbers for the jackpot are 06, 14, 17, 19, 26, 43, 45, with Bonus Number 27.

The lottery group said players should check places like clothing pockets, handbags, backpacks, wallets and vehicle glove compartments to try to find the ticket.

If it expires, the lottery will keep the $40m prize for future games.

If the 28 October 2025 prize goes unclaimed, it would not be the first time.

On 28 June 2022, someone in Scarborough, Ontario, won a $70m Lotto Max draw, but no ticket holder ever came forward. OLG said at the time that 2,700 people called and emailed about the ticket - but not one of them was the winner.

Atlantic Lottery - another government-owned corporation that manages lotteries - told Canadian media that about one per cent of prizes go unclaimed, often much smaller sums.

Last week, an Alberta resident won Canada's largest-ever lottery jackpot for $90m. The winner has yet to be publicly identified.