Lotto players in Atlantic Canada are leaving behind millions of dollars this year.
Spokesperson Carla Bourque says prizes pile up in part because some people don’t check their tickets immediately.
“Currently there is about $3.9 million in outstanding prizes for LottoMax and 6/49 and for all of the other games that we offer it’s another $2.7 million,” says Bourque.
She says people have a year from the date of the draw to claim any winnings.
“After they expire, any unclaimed prizes will go back into an unclaimed prize fund,” says Bourque. “That money is then returned to players through special draws, special prizing and additional bonus draws.”
She explains what some of those bonuses might look like.
“Often you will see on 6/49 we may offer additional bonus prizing, so you would have your standard prizing in a draw, and then for a certain period of time we may offer ten additional prizes of $100,000 or 100 additional prizes of $25,000,” says Bourque. “Our intent is always to return any unclaimed prize winnings back to players.”
Bourque says her best advice for people is to check junk drawers, check pockets, glove compartments because you may have a winning ticket.
Dig deep into your pockets and search the back of your junk drawer: a $100,000 TAG ticket sold in Riverview, NB expires on June 15!
— Atlantic Lottery (@AL_Lottery) June 1, 2016
She adds you should take every opportunity to check the ticket if you find one because it could be a winner.
