For almost a year, nobody came forward with the $40 million Lotto Max ticket.
Then, with hours to go, someone did.
The ticket was sold in Grey County, Ont., for the Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, draw. It was set to expire at midnight Wednesday, exactly one year later. According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, someone validated it at an authorized lottery retailer just hours before the deadline.
Nobody has been confirmed as the winner yet.
“OLG has very detailed information about this winning ticket,” the corporation said. “We don’t know the identity of the person or group that purchased it.”
OLG says it has contacted whoever validated the ticket and will meet with them to determine whether they’re the rightful owner.
“Until then, OLG will take the time needed to determine the rightful ownership of the $40 million LOTTO MAX ticket,” it said.
The winning numbers
Draw: Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025
Winning numbers: 06, 14, 17, 19, 26, 43, 45
Bonus: 27
OLG said at the time that it was the sixth Lotto Max jackpot won in Ontario in 2025.
OLG hasn’t said which store validated the ticket, who brought it in, or whether it belongs to one person or a group.
A year of silence, then a last-minute save
OLG spent weeks trying to find the winner. It urged people to dig through wallets, coat pockets, cars and kitchen drawers. It even named the Grey County communities where the ticket might have been bought: Owen Sound, Meaford, The Blue Mountains, Flesherton, Markdale, Durham and Hanover.
OLG called a prize this size getting close to its expiry date “exceptionally rare.”
No one came forward until the last day.
Grey County has done this before
This is the second $40 million Lotto Max ticket sold in Grey County in just over a year.
On Sept. 17, 2024, two tickets split what was then the largest Lotto Max jackpot ever, $80 million. One was sold in Quebec. The other was bought at a Petro-Canada in Owen Sound by Stephanie and Bryan Cantwell, who took home $40 million.
That couple didn’t wait around. Bryan checked the ticket in the OLG app seven or eight times, and Stephanie said she first thought she was looking at $40,000. They claimed their prize less than a month after the draw.
This time, the ticket sat for almost a year.
Why OLG hasn’t handed over the money
Holding a winning ticket isn’t the same as proving it’s yours.
OLG reviews every prize claim over $1,000 to confirm it’s going to the rightful owner. With $40 million at stake and the ticket turning up on the final day, it’s no surprise OLG is taking its time.
OLG hasn’t suggested anything is wrong with the claim. The review just isn’t done.
If the claim checks out, OLG says it will hold a winner celebration and share the winner’s story publicly.
The $70 million ticket nobody could claim
There’s a reason lottery corporations are careful.
A $70 million Lotto Max ticket was sold in Scarborough, Ont., for the June 28, 2022, draw. No one came forward with it before it expired.
People tried, though. OLG says its customer care centre logged almost 2,700 calls and emails from people saying they had bought the winning ticket and lost it. Investigators went through every claim.
“None of those claims were successful,” OLG said when it officially declared the prize unclaimed in August 2023. The $70 million went back into the prize pool.
The Grey County ticket is different in one big way: someone actually brought it in before the deadline.
How long you have to claim a lottery prize in Canada
For Canada’s national draws, Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and Daily Grand, you generally have one year from the draw date.
That’s the rule in Ontario, where the $40 million deadline fell exactly one year after the draw. It’s also the rule in Western Canada. The Western Canada Lottery Corporation, which runs lotteries in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the territories, says draw tickets expire one year after the draw. Scratch tickets have their own expiry date printed on the back.
After the deadline, WCLC says, no prize can be paid, however big it is.
Before you toss an old ticket
Scan it at a retailer or with your provincial lottery app.
Check the draw date printed on it.
Sign the back if it could be a big winner. WCLC recommends adding your legal name, address and phone number.
Playing with a group? The person holding the ticket should write their name and “In Trust” on the back.
Where unclaimed lottery money goes
If no one claims a Lotto Max jackpot, OLG says the money goes back into the prize pool for future bonus draws or promotions for Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and Daily Grand.
WCLC handles national games the same way. For regional games, unclaimed prizes go back to the provinces and territories as revenue.
As for Grey County’s latest $40 million, the question isn’t whether the ticket will show up anymore. It’s who gets to keep it.
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