C$40m Lotto Max ticket validated hours before Ontario deadline; ownership remains under review

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) said a C$40 million Lotto Max ticket sold in Grey County, Ontario, was validated on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, hours before its midnight expiry deadline. The validation keeps the prize claim alive, but OLG must determine who owns the ticket before it can award the money.

The ticket matched the winning numbers in the 28 October 2025 draw. It was bought at a lottery retailer in Grey County, and nearly a year passed before someone presented it at a lottery terminal. Tony Bitonti, OLG’s director of media relations, told the BBC that the ticket had been validated through a terminal.

How OLG will determine who owns the ticket

The ownership check is part of OLG’s process for prize claims above C$1,000. The corporation said it would take the time needed to determine ownership. If it establishes who is entitled to the C$40 million, OLG plans to hold a winner celebration and share the winner’s story publicly.

The year-long search for the Grey County winner

Before the deadline, OLG urged people who had bought Lotto Max tickets in Grey County, or visited the area around the 2025 draw, to check them. The county includes Owen Sound and the Blue Mountains and attracts visitors, raising the possibility that the buyer had since left the area. Global News reported that OLG was processing approximately 50 claims related to the ticket before the deadline.

The winning numbers were 06, 14, 17, 19, 26, 43 and 45, with bonus number 27. The terminal validation came just in time: the BBC reported that, had the prize expired unclaimed, OLG would have kept the C$40 million for future games.

An earlier Ontario jackpot shows what can happen when no valid ticket holder comes forward. According to the BBC, a C$70 million Lotto Max prize from a 28 June 2022 draw in Scarborough was never claimed. OLG said 2,700 people contacted it about that ticket, but none was its winner.