$1m Canada Lottery Ticket Goes Unclaimed
December 26th - Despite heightened calls to the Canadian lottery playing public to check their older tickets well, the deadline to claim a $1 million Max Million lottery prize came and went this week.
The unclaimed ticket was not produced in time to meet the December 22nd deadline, and the funds have now been returned to a national unclaimed winners fund.
The prize dates to a lottery draw that took place on December 20th, 2013. While winners typically have a year to claim their prizes, officials extended the deadline by another two days - to the 22nd - in order to give the winner one last chance to come forward.
All that is known is that the ticket was purchased in Saskatchewan.
"Rare" for Lottery Prizes to Go Unclaimed
The Western Canada Lottery Corporation and other corporations published several calls in the past few months for lottery players to check back on older tickets in case they had overlooked the $1 million prize.
"It wouldn't be the first time we've heard of a player discovering a ticket they've stashed in a coat pocket or purse months before," noted Andrea Marantz, spokesperson for Western Canada Lottery Corporation, before the expiry date.
Kevin Vanegdom, also with the corporation, noted that while it was not unheard of for smaller prizes to go unclaimed, it was extremely "rare" that a million dollar prize wasn't claimed in time.
This is not the largest prize not to be claimed in the province's history. However, it doesn't come near the largest expired lottery prize in Canadian history - a $14.9 million ticket which went unclaimed in Alberta.
Help with Lost Lottery Tickets
One of the reasons why lottery prizes go unclaimed is that players lose their tickets.
Lottery corporations have procedures in line to help those players, according to the Ontario Lottery Corporation.
"We do require that the customer have knowledge of the transaction (such as) the date and time of the purchase, the location of the purchase and any other detail that would be known to the purchaser," noted Galit Solomon, a spokesperson for the OLG.
She said the lottery corporations do all they can to help players claim their rightful prizes.
