CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — One lucky lottery ticket holder could be in for a very nice Christmas but the clock is running out.
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation says a Lotto 6/49 ticket sold in Charlottetown on Dec. 22, 2018 is worth $1 million but the prize hasn't been claimed and the winnings will expire at the end of the day on Dec. 22, 2019.
Joanne Groslouis, an employee at The Lotto Booth in the Confederation Court Mall in Charlottetown, said there’s been a steady stream of people coming in to check their lottery tickets and it has been a topic of conversation.
“People are in all the time,’’ Groslouis said Tuesday. “We just had a lineup of people in. One person said they threw their old tickets out and was wondering if it was the winner.’’
Need to know
- Lotto 6/49 ticket worth $1 million sold in Charlottetown on Dec. 22, 2018 still hasn’t been claimed
- The winnings are attached to the guaranteed numbers on the lotto ticket, not the main numbers
- The ticket holder has until the end of the day on Dec. 22, 2019 to have their ticket checked
- If it goes unclaimed the money will be redistributed to future prizes
“We’re encouraging people to look in their closets, old purses, old coats, in their drawers and gloveboxes. Somebody is $1 million richer and just doesn’t know it yet."
-Greg Weston
Greg Weston, senior communications with the corporation, said it’s a $1-million prize in the Lotto 6/49 guaranteed prize, not on the main numbers.
“No one has come forward to claim it as of yet . . . (so) we’re trying to get word out and raise awareness about it and encouraging people to check any old tickets or look for any old ticket they might have around,’’ Weston said. “Check them; double check them.’’
James Hodgson of Charlottetown was at The Lotto Booth on Tuesday checking his tickets but noted that he doesn’t tend to wait very long to see if he has a winner.
“It wasn’t me,’’ Hodgson laughed after checking his ticket. “I check my tickets all the time.’’
One man, who didn’t want to do an interview, hauled in all of his old tickets, so many he could barely hold them in two hands, yet still came up empty, although he did win more than $100 on Proline.
Weston said it’s very rare that a winning ticket goes this long unclaimed.
“People are eager to claim their prizes, obviously,’’ Weston said. “I know we had a $1-million prize in the Moncton area several years ago that went unclaimed but it is quite, quite rare that it happens, with large prizes especially.’’
He said there were two winners this year, one in Nova Scotia and one in New Brunswick, where the winners waited five months to claim their prizes. One person simply lets their tickets pile up before checking them all at once while the other winner was busy with home renovations and simply forgot to check their ticket.
Weston speculated that the ticket could have been purchased by someone visiting Charlottetown for the holidays and hasn’t checked it yet.
“We’re encouraging people to look in their closets, old purses, old coats, in their drawers and gloveboxes. Somebody is $1 million richer and just doesn’t know it yet,’’ he said.
