Somebody in Sooke is $1 million richer today after winning the guaranteed $1-million prize in Wednesday’s Lotto 6/49.
Wednesday’s win comes after another $1-million win from the Island quietly expired when no one came forward to claim the prize within the one-year time period. The unclaimed money was returned to the lottery pool.
“While it is not uncommon for winners not to claim some lesser amounts, it is incredibly rare for a person not to claim a prize of that magnitude,” said Matt Lee, spokesman for the corporation, adding the corporation does not actively keep track of how many winning tickets go unclaimed.
Calls to coffee shops and other establishments in Sooke didn’t turn up anybody who was aware of the winner.
“A million dollars just doesn’t go that far these days,” said Richard Whiteson, owner-operator of the Sooke Sweet and Pop Shoppe, which regularly sells about a hundred tickets on a Friday night. “I would know if one of them was a winner, but think that some buy tickets without any expectation of winning.”
While the odds of getting all six numbers correct to win the $5-million jackpot is estimated to be one in almost 14 million, the odds for the guaranteed prize draw vary, as it depends on the number of $3 Lotto 6/49 plays issued for that draw.
Lee said lottery winners can take their time to come forward when they hit the jackpot for a variety of reasons.
“We don’t want to tell players what to do, but the most important practice we can encourage is for people to keep track of their lottery ticket.”
In Tennessee recently, a man lost a $1-million US winning lottery ticket in a parking lot — then later found it when he went back to look more than an hour later.
Last year’s winning ticket was, like Wednesday’s ticket, a physical one.
The lottery corporation also allows people to play the lottery online, with digital tickets purchased for the draws.
If a digital ticket was picked, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation would send the winner an email to inform them of their good fortune.
The message would only say that they were a winner — it would not reveal the amount won, Lee said. “The person who bought the ticket would then have to log into their account to discover how much they won.”
People can check if they have a winning ticket at any retailer or playnow.com.
parrais@timescolonist.com
