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$20m winning ticket to be investigated

April 23, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

A group from the Orangeville area holds the winning ticket from the March 21, Lotto 6/49 draw, but so far the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission (OLG) has not handed out a cheque or identified the winners.

The winning ticket is worth $20,481,125.50.

A spokesperson for the OLG confirmed that the winners did arrive at the Lottery office – ticket in hand – to claim their prize a couple of days after the draw.

“What I can tell is the ticket holders, it is a group, did come to our prize centre on the Thursday before the Easter long weekend,” said Dita Kuhtey, manager, media relations for the OLG. “The came in to start their prize claim but it was determined that one of them falls into the OLGs’ definition of a insider win.”

Once it is determined that a person fits into the definition of an ‘insider win’ the prize is put on hold until an investigation is completed.

An insider win, however, doesn’t mean the person claiming the prize has done anything wrong. In fact the OLG website has a long list of insider wins that are being investigated.

“This happens often,” Ms. Kuhtey said adding that an insider win could be something as simple as having a family member who works in a convenience store that sells lottery tickets and “it’s just a part of our process” as the OLG works to maintain the integrity of the lottery.

During an insider win investigation the winning prize is put on hold for 30 days as they make sure every thing is legitimate and no other people come forward to make a claim on the winning ticket.

The lottery has been good to Orangeville.

There have been 159 lottery prizes of $10,000 or more won in Orangeville since the lottery started and the grand total is around $31 million paid out to local residents.

According to OLG records, the largest single payout in Orangeville was a jackpot worth $11.4 million, and there have been eight prizes of $1 million claimed by Orangeville lottery players.

When the investigation is complete the OLG will announce the Orangeville winners of the jackpot.

No doubt it will be a long 30 days for the winners, but in the end the life-altering win will be worth a few weeks of anticipation.


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