Mohamed Nimji opened the Lotto Spot app to buy a Lotto Max ticket. He found out he was already a millionaire.
The Edmonton man had several tickets in the app he hadn’t checked yet. One of them had won $1 million in the Aug. 18 Lotto Max draw.
He’d bought the winning ticket through the app, but he hadn’t looked at the result. It was still sitting there when he came back to play again.
“I went into the app to buy my ticket for that night’s LOTTO MAX draw,” Nimji told the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. “[The app] was telling me that I had several unchecked tickets, so I went to go look, and I saw the winner.”
“I was in disbelief”
Seeing $1 million on his phone didn’t make it feel real.
“I had to go back and forth with another winning ticket to confirm it was actually a winner,” he said, laughing. “I was in disbelief!”
WCLC confirmed the ticket was bought directly through the app, not at a store.
Retirement, then Africa
Nimji isn’t planning anything flashy.
“Retirement fund and a trip next year to Africa,” he said. “I was born there.”
He didn’t say which country he was born in or where he plans to go. But the plan is simple: some of the money goes toward the future, and some goes toward a trip back to where he started.
How the Lotto Spot app works
Nimji’s win shows off a feature a lot of Alberta players may not know about.
Lotto Spot is WCLC’s official app. Alberta residents can use it to:
Buy tickets for Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and other lottery games right on their phones
Check paper tickets bought at a store
See winning numbers and prize breakdowns
Find lottery retailers nearby
Tickets bought in the app are checked automatically. Results show up in the My Tickets section of your account, and the app flags tickets you haven’t looked at yet. That’s how Nimji spotted a win from an earlier draw.
WCLC says you have to be physically inside its region when you buy a ticket on your phone.
How to claim a big prize bought in the app
Winning $1 million in the app doesn’t mean the money shows up in your bank account.
WCLC says prizes over $1,000 have to go through its claim process. For tickets bought in the app:
Find your ticket’s barcode in the My Tickets section
Book an appointment at a prize office. In Alberta, they’re in St. Albert and Calgary.
Bring two pieces of government ID
Keep your barcode private. WCLC warns not to share it with anyone, since it’s used to validate the win.
Call WCLC’s Player Care for help with a large claim
Winners have one year from the draw date to claim. Lottery winnings aren’t taxed in Canada, though any interest or investment income you earn on the money is.
Full instructions are on WCLC’s prize-claiming page.
Alberta’s record $90 million win
Nimji’s story comes out the same week Alberta celebrated the biggest jackpot in Canadian history.
A ticket sold in Alberta won the $90 million Lotto Max jackpot in the Oct. 20 draw, the largest lottery jackpot ever won in Canada. It was sold in what WCLC calls “Wildrose Country,” which covers the province outside Calgary and Edmonton. Two more $1 million Maxmillions prizes were sold in Alberta that night.
Nimji’s $1 million came from an earlier draw, on Aug. 18. It became public when WCLC released his story this week.
Other winners with memorable stories
Nimji isn’t the only recent winner who needed a minute to believe it:
High River, Alta., $1 million: Julio Benitez thought he’d broken a ticket checker at a Calgary gas station when its screen went black. His Lotto 6/49 ticket was worth $1 million. Read his story
Edmonton, $1 million: Rhonda Starkell couldn’t sleep, so she checked her Lotto 6/49 ticket at 2:30 a.m. She’d won $1 million on what would have been her late father’s birthday. Read her story
Maple Ridge, B.C., $1 million: Mehrdad P. went out to buy a light bulb, checked his Lotto Max ticket at a gas station and told his wife he’d won $100,000. The app showed it was actually $1 million. Read his story
Surrey, B.C., $32 million: Amritpal S. won a $32 million Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball jackpot and plans to buy a house and his dream car. Read his story
Each of them had a moment when the size of the prize finally sank in. For Nimji, it was going back and forth between two tickets on his phone.
Check your app
If you play through Lotto Spot, open the app and look at My Tickets. If anything’s still flagged as unchecked, check it.
Nimji almost didn’t. He only saw his $1 million because he went in to buy another ticket.
Play responsibly. Lottery results are based on chance. WCLC recommends only spending what you can afford to lose.
Sources
Western Canada Lottery Corporation, “$1 Million LOTTO MAX Win in Edmonton!”: https://www.wclc.com/media-centre/recent-winner-releases/winner-releases/1-million-lotto-max-win-in-edmonton-1.htm
Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Lotto Spot! app: https://www.wclc.com/for-players/lotto-spot.htm
Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Claiming a Prize: https://www.wclc.com/claiming-a-prize/claiming-a-prize-wclc.htm
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