OLG Questions Lotto Max Claimants
Posted January 5, 2011 2:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Some of the claimants to the disputed $50-million Lotto Max jackpot are at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming prize centre in Toronto today being questioned about the win.
OLG spokeswoman Sarah Kiriliuk says the original claimants — 19 Bell Canada call centre workers from east Toronto — validated the winning ticket on Monday.
But since then she says several more people have come forward to say they should have a share of the prize, although she refused to say exactly how many.
She says the claimants, just like anyone else who wins a prize of $10,000 or more, are being interviewed individually by an OLG investigator.
They are being asked how long their group has been playing together, where the ticket was bought, and who was the group leader, among other questions.
Kiriliuk says the claimants are in good spirits despite the dispute.
After jubilantly speaking to the media about their win Monday, several prize claimants brushed past reporters at the prize centre today refusing comment, some even hiding their faces from cameras.
Kiriliuk says it’s not clear how long it will take to determine who are the rightful winners of the jackpot, which was the largest single ticket win in Ontario history.
To avoid these types of disputes, Kiriliuk advises anyone playing in a group should fill out a group win form that’s available on the OLG website and fill out their name, signature and number of group members.
She says it’s important to fill out the form each week, so players have a weekly record of what has happened in their weekly group play.
She also recommends speaking to the group leader of the lottery pool each week to confirm they received money from each player and purchased tickets, and then ask for a photocopy of the ticket.
