Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) awareness campaign about the unclaimed $70 million jackpot from the Tuesday, June 28, 2022, LOTTO MAX draw has generated unprecedented media attention in the hopes of jogging the ticket owner’s memory so that this person or group would come forward with the ticket.
As of the deadline of 10:30 pm June 28, 2023, the physical $70 million winning ticket, which was sold at a lottery retailer in Scarborough, was not validated at an OLG lottery terminal. If an attempt is made to validate a lottery ticket such as LOTTO MAX or LOTTO 6/49 past the one-year expiry date, the lottery terminal message to the customer will advise the ticket has expired.
However, the awareness campaign resulted in more than 1100 calls to OLG’s Customer Care Centre with people claiming to have lost the ticket. OLG is committed to always paying the right prize to rightful owner of a winning ticket. Due to the high volume of lost ticket claims, OLG’s dedicated team of lottery investigators need to take the time necessary to review all of these potential claims made before the expiry deadline. After that process is complete, we will provide a further update.
If the LOTTO MAX ticket remains unclaimed, the $70 million prize will be returned to LOTTO MAX players through future bonus games or promotions.
To avoid unclaimed lottery prizes, OLG asks lottery players to:
- Sign their ticket as soon as it purchased at a retail location;
- Keep the ticket in a safe and memorable location until draw time;
- Check the ticket as soon as the draw is complete; or
- Purchase a lottery ticket on OLG.ca and you will be notified by email if your ticket has won a prize.
OLG offers players several easy ways to check lottery tickets by using the OLG App, by using the self-serve ticket checker at lottery retail locations or asking the retailer to check it through the lottery terminal.
Information about other unclaimed tickets can be found on the OLG.ca Unclaimed Tickets page.
OLG supports safe play and wants to keep the fun in the game. That’s why OLG is proud to be a leader in promoting responsible gambling with our globally recognized PlaySmart program.