Canada: Nearly Rs 272 crore won in lottery, winner arrived just before the end of the deadline

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the owner of the lottery ticket that won a prize of 40 million Canadian dollars (about Rs 272 crore) submitted his claim just hours before its expiry date.

Tony Bitonti, OLG's director of media relations, told BBC News that the ticket was verified through a lottery terminal. This ticket was about to expire at midnight on Wednesday.

The lottery corporation was searching for the owner of the ticket that won the Lotto Max jackpot.

The ticket was purchased almost a year ago, on October 28, 2025, from a retailer in Gray County, Ontario.

OLG did not reveal the name of the winner and said it had contacted him to confirm that he was the rightful owner of the ticket.

"If the rightful owner is confirmed, OLG will hold a celebration to honor the winner and share the winner's story with the media and public as part of its public disclosure process," the company said in a statement.

OLG said Gray County, which includes the Blue Mountains and Owen Sound, is a popular tourist destination. In such a situation, it is possible that someone might have bought a ticket there and forgot to check it after returning home.

Bitonti told CTV News earlier Wednesday that "regretfully" the ticket was not checked on the OLG app or at a store.

OLG said that the jackpot winning numbers are 06, 14, 17, 19, 26, 43 and 45. The bonus number is 27.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation urged ticket buyers to check clothing pockets, handbags, backpacks, wallets and glove compartments of vehicles.

If the tickets had expired, the Lottery Corporation would have retained the prize money of Canadian dollars 40 million for future games.

Even before, no one has claimed the big lottery prizes.

On June 28, 2022, someone won the $70 million Lotto Max draw in Scarborough, Ontario, but no ticket holder came forward to claim the prize.

At the time, OLG reported that 2,700 people had contacted them via phone and email about the ticket, but none of them were winners.

Bitonti said that every year about one percent of the prizes go unclaimed. He said that generally these rewards are of very small amounts.

Last week, an Alberta resident won the largest lottery jackpot in Canadian history, $90 million. The identity of the winner has not been made public yet.