What we know about the $40M lottery ticket validated hours before expiry in Ontario

Mere hours before a $40 million Lotto Max jackpot was set to expire, the winning ticket was validated at a lottery terminal, according to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

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In a news release on Wednesday, OLG said the winning ticket for the Oct. 28, 2025 draw was “set to expire at midnight” if no one came to collect their prize.

Here’s what to know about the ticket and what would have happened if nobody came forward to claim it.

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The winning ticket was originally purchased at a lottery retailer in Grey County, Ont., and the jackpot remained unclaimed for a whole year – until now.

“I am gobsmacked,” said Tony Bitonti, director of media relations at OLG.

Bitonti said the OLG typically isn’t concerned when a major jackpot goes unclaimed for the first few months, because winners often need time to process the news and consult financial advisers.

However, when the owner of the ticket failed to come forward after several months, the OLG launched an awareness campaign for the person with the winning ticket to come forward.

If the deadline for the prize were to have passed with no one claiming it, the $40 million prize would have been declared void and returned to players through future Lotto Max bonus games or promotions.

In an Oct. 5 news release, the OLG encouraged anyone who believed they may have won to “check places where they typically store their tickets,” such as their pockets, drawers, glove compartments and backpacks.

The OLG noted that Grey County is a popular vacation destination for cottagers and day trippers, so a visitor from elsewhere in the country could have purchased the ticket and forgotten to check it.

Bitonti said that as soon as a large winning ticket is validated at a lottery terminal, the computer on the lottery terminal and the lottery terminal itself trigger a notification to the OLG customer care center. The lottery terminal is then frozen in order to make sure all information about the ticket is preserved.

A customer care representative is then required to call the store immediately to talk to the retailer and the winner to begin the review process, which can include a proof of purchase, examining security footage and asking the redeemer questions about the purchase.

Bitonti claims the winner could be announced “within the next few days.”

“The next chapter is yet to be written, because we don’t know the full story yet,” he said.

If the deadline for the prize were to have passed with no one claiming it, the $40 million prize would have been declared void and returned to players through future Lotto Max bonus games or promotions.

It wouldn’t have been the first time a multi-million-dollar jackpot went unclaimed. In 2022, a $70 million Lotto Max jackpot was declared unclaimed after the winner of the prize failed to come forward a year after the original draw.

The winning ticket was originally purchased at an authorized retailer in Scarborough, Ont. It was declared the largest ever unclaimed prize in Canada.

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