Rightful Lottery Winners Finally Paid Out
It took OLG a full year to find the rightful owners of a $12.5 million lottery win, but the effort was well worth it when the seven joint winners were finally handed a check for $2,121,545.68 each.
For seven years, these construction workers didn't know that they had won the lottery on a free play ticket won from their original lottery ticket.
It is alleged that the owner of the convenience store picked up on the win and didn't tell the seven, instead claiming the money for himself with the cooperation of his two adult children.
Kenneth, Kathleen and Jun-Chul Chung are all awaiting trial for their part in the scam, after claiming the money as their own and buying mansions, cars and other luxuries.
Last September, the police arrested the three after it was discovered that they were not the true winners.
The question remained: Who was?
According to OLG Chariman, Paul Godfrey, all efforts were directed at tracing the rightful owners of the $12.5 million, which, by now, had ballooned to $14.85 million with interest.
"Motivated by the desire to right the wrongs of the past, an internal team was set about creating this amazing technology," explained Godfrey.
"We found the haystack and we also found the needle."
Precise, painstaking detective work finally led the team to the winning ticket, and after the seven men were interviewed and found to have information that only the winners would know, they were finally identified.
"We don't know what to think right now," said Daniel MacGregor. "It's a dream. It's surreal."
