Not so fast
Posted Jan 5, 2011 06:44:11 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – The winners of a 50 million-dollar jackpot in last Friday’s Lotto Max draw won’t be getting their money right away.
It appears the winning ticket is held by 19 Bell Canada employees in Toronto, but more people are claiming part of the prize.
As a result, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is delaying issuing the cheque while it investigates the additional claimants.
O-L-G spokesman Tony Bitonti says the investigation could take a couple of days or a couple of weeks, but also says the winning ticket for the 50 million dollar jackpot is genuine.
He says the dispute focuses on who is part of the group holding the ticket.
Meanwhile in the United States, at least two people are waking up to find themselves millions of dollars richer.
The holders of a ticket sold in Idaho and another in Washington state will be sharing Mega Millions’ US$355 million jackpot from Tuesday night’s drawing, lottery officials said Wednesday.
The prize is the fourth-largest in U.S. history and the second-largest in Mega Millions’ history, said Arizona Lottery spokeswoman Cindy Esquer. The lottery’s prize of $390 million in March 2007 remains the richest on record in the United States.
The two winners from Tuesday will each get $177.5 million. Besides the jackpot, prizes range from $2 to $250,000.
The princely sum drew huge interest across the country as thousands of people lined up to buy tickets in 41 states and Washington, D.C., where the game is available.
Hundreds of people poured into the tiny Arizona towns of Littlefield and Beaver Dam, crossing into the state from Nevada and Utah, where Mega Millions tickets are not sold.
