Millions Lost: The Lottery Tickets Nobody Ever Claimed
“A $70M ticket in Ontario. A $64M prize in New Brunswick. Every year, millions in lottery winnings expire unclaimed across Canada.”
In April 2023, someone in Gloucester County, New Brunswick, purchased a lottery ticket worth $64 million. One year later, that ticket was about to expire — and nobody had come forward. Marlene Legacy, who owns the Last Stop Convenience Store outside Bathurst where the ticket may have been sold, told CBC Radio: 'At the beginning, it was crazy. It was the talk almost every day.' If unclaimed, it would become the largest prize to ever expire in Atlantic Canada.
$10 Million Goes Unclaimed in Ontario Every Single Year
This isn't an anomaly. According to Tony Bitonti, OLG's director of media relations, roughly $10 million in prizes go unclaimed every year in Ontario alone. Loto-Québec reports similar figures. Atlantic Lottery says approximately one percent of all prizes go unclaimed annually. In 2023, a $70 million Lotto Max ticket sold in Scarborough, Ontario, was officially declared unclaimed — the largest single prize to ever expire in the province. In British Columbia, the biggest unclaimed prize was a $15 million Lotto Max ticket that expired on August 13, 2022.
Why Do Winners Miss the Deadline?
Why does this happen? Bitonti explains that most unclaimed prizes start small: 'If they see that they just won a free play or a $2 or $5 prize, they'll put off claiming that money, and then that ticket goes missing.' Seasonal jackets are a notorious culprit — people buy a ticket in winter, stuff it in a coat pocket, and don't find it until the following fall when the claim window has closed.
The Time OLG Tracked Down a Winner Using a Loyalty Card
But even multimillion-dollar jackpots slip through the cracks. In one 2012 case, a $50 million Lotto Max prize went unclaimed for eight months. OLG investigators knew the winning ticket was sold at a specific Shoppers Drug Mart in Cambridge, Ontario, and had identified the exact time of purchase. Using security camera footage, they saw the buyer had paid with a credit card and scanned a Shoppers Optimum loyalty card. This allowed them to track down the winner — Kathryn Jones — who became the first person identified through OLG's formal claims investigation process and was ultimately paid.
How One Couple Almost Lost Their Win to a Health Scare
In late 2025, an Alberta couple nearly lost their Lotto 6/49 win to the same pattern. Judy and Dennis Korop of Ashmont had a routine for checking tickets, but Dennis had a health scare that disrupted everything. Their ticket from the January 18, 2025 draw sat in his pocket for months. Eventually, Judy handed a stack of unchecked tickets to a store cashier — and the terminal went off. Every lottery corporation in Canada now actively uses social media campaigns and press releases to alert potential winners. But Bitonti's advice couldn't be simpler: 'Check your tickets. Always check your tickets.' Or check your Lotto Max combination against the full draw history so you never miss a near-win.