It’s Day 3 of the $50-million lottery watch in Thunder Bay, and still no one has officially come forward to claim the gargantuan prize.
Plenty of people are still hoping they’re the one, said Karen Hawryluk, the co-owner of High Variety corner store.
“We’ve had quite a few people coming in checking their tickets, hoping to be the $50-million Lotto Max prize winner,” she said. “I hate to burst their bubble, some of them.”
On Saturday, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation officials announced that a single winning ticket for last Friday’s weekly draw had been sold in Thunder Bay, leaving the city abuzz with curiosity about who the lucky winner or winners might be.
Hawryluk said most of her customers are having fun dreaming about what it might be like to cash a $50-million cheque, but aren’t really expecting they’re holding the winning ticket.
“They’re a little bit disappointed, (but) I think a lot of people don’t expect to win that amount. But it would be a nice surprise if somebody did come through the door and win that amount,” she said, adding she’s seen a few more people trekking through the entrance of their High Street store to have their ticket officially checked.
“My regulars are hoping to win, so they’re checking out their tickets, if they haven’t already.”
It was a similar story on Monday afternoon at the lottery kiosk in Country Fair Plaza.
Cathy Harnden said the rumours are flying fast and furious around the city about who might be holding the winning ticket.
“I’ve had so many people say (it was sold at) different stores, I don’t know what to believe,” Harnden said. “I don’t know who the winner is and I don’t think people do either. They haven’t named anybody, so we’re just waiting to hear and see.
“The reaction is, ‘Oh, I’m not a winner. Somebody’s already won in Thunder Bay.”
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At least one false claim on the prize money has been proven to be a hoax.
On Saturday, after word began to filter throughout the city that the lucky ticket was purchased in Thunder Bay, local filmmaker and children’s author Matt Popowich claimed on his Facebook and Twitter accounts that he was the lucky winner, saying, “This is the best day of my life.”
However, when contacted by tbnewswatch.com, he confessed he wasn’t actually the winner and admitted he’d played a good joke on the city.
OLG spokeswoman Dita Kuhtey, reached via phone on Monday, said the organization is still in a holding pattern waiting for the winner or winners to come forward.
“At this point we haven’t heard any other news. No one’s claimed the ticket or gone to one of our retailers, so it’s really tough to say if the winner knows they have the winning ticket or not,” she said. “Every time there’s a big winner, it really depends.
“They may have checked their numbers online are sort of keeping it private at this point, getting their affairs in order, or maybe they don’t know yet. Maybe they’re going to validate their ticket when they buy their next LottoMax ticket.”
Winners have a year from the draw date to claim an OLG lottery prize.
