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Opinion: I’m terrified a $60-million prize won’t be claimed. This is why

*UPDATE: Since this column was first published, a winner has now stepped forward. See the attached story about what the winner plans on doing with the money. Meanwhile, I will sleep easily tonight.
lottery ticket
FILE PHOTO of a BCLC Lotto Max ticket

*UPDATE: Since this column was first published, a winner has now stepped forward. See the attached story about what the winner plans on doing with the money. Meanwhile, I will sleep easily tonight.

Someone out there is holding a Lotto Max ticket for a $60-million jackpot.

It’s been a month since the ticket was bought and nobody has stepped forward to claim the kind of money that dreams are made of.

I mean, Chip Wilson – the elitist founder of lululemon – reportedly paid $1 million for the Red Hot Chili Peppers to play a set at his home for a party in 2013.

You could ACTUALLY DO THIS if you won $60 million. You know, after you set up a college fund for your kids and grandkids, blah, blah, yada, yada.

Logic says the holder of this ticket, bought in Richmond, is just biding their time, getting their affairs in order.

“The reason why some winners do take days or weeks is because they may be seeking advice from a financial advisor or from a lawyer in advance of claiming their ticket,” Matt Lee, spokesperson for the B.C. Lottery Corporation, told our sister paper, the Richmond News.

I really hope this is the situation because I have this irrational fear that the ticket has been lost, forgotten or accidentally tossed in the trash.

No, really, I’m actually terrified nobody will ever claim this prize. You see, I don’t buy many lottery tickets, but I still have a recurring nightmare in which I find out I had won the lottery, but only discovered this AFTER the ticket had expired. The nightmare usually involves people mocking me for blowing the chance of a lifetime.

For someone who rarely plays the lottery, I sure seem obsessed with it.

I just can’t fathom what that would be like to find something like this out after it’s too late to claim it. If you discovered this, would you tell anyone or would you keep it bottled up inside until it swallowed your emotions?

I know money doesn’t always buy happiness, but I’d sure like to give it the old college try.

For the record, I wouldn’t hire the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I would take a shot at getting REM back together for one night.

The holder of the winning ticket has about 11 months to claim the prize.

The winning numbers from the July 26 Lotto Max draw are 11, 15, 17, 20, 24, 25, 50, and bonus number 30.

If this is you, please put me out of my misery.

  • with additional reporting by Kirsten Clarke, Richmond News

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.