A winning Lotto Max ticket worth $40 million is set to expire in less than three weeks, and Ontario's lottery operator still has no idea who bought it.
The ticket matched all seven numbers drawn on Oct. 28, 2025 — 6, 14, 17, 19, 26, 43 and 45, with bonus number 27 — and was sold somewhere in Grey County, a stretch of cottage country that includes Owen Sound, Meaford, Markdale, Durham and Hanover, according to CTV News. It was one of two tickets that split a record-breaking $80 million jackpot that week; the other was sold in Quebec.
Under the rules of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), winners have one year from the draw date to come forward, which puts the deadline at Oct. 28, 2026. CP24 reports that because the ticket was bought at a retail terminal rather than through an online account, OLG has no way to trace the purchaser directly — it can only wait.
OLG's working theory is that the buyer isn't even a local. "Someone visiting the area may have purchased the ticket and forgotten to check it after returning home," the corporation said, noting that Grey County draws heavy tourist and cottage traffic every autumn, per Daily Hive.
If someone does step forward with the ticket, OLG says it will run a verification process to confirm both the ticket and the claimant's identity before handing over the prize. If nobody does, the money doesn't just disappear — OLG says unclaimed jackpots are eventually funneled back into bonus draws and promotions for other players down the line.
For now, OLG is urging anyone who bought a Lotto Max ticket in the Owen Sound area last October to check old coat pockets, glove compartments and junk drawers. Comparing a ticket against the unclaimed-prize list on OLG's website takes a few seconds; missing a deadline on $40 million lasts considerably longer.