Loto-Québec 'looking for a millionaire' before winning ticket expires

One lucky lottery player has a winning ticket worth $1 million, but better get moving with only two weeks left before it expires.

A winning ticket for the Lotto 6/49 Jan. 4, 2025, draw was sold in the Thérèse-De Blainville Regional County Municipality in the Laurentians. Their deadline to claim the prize is one year after the draw, on Jan. 4, 2026.

“There’s someone out there with a ticket worth $1 million,” said a spokesperson for Loto-Québec, Renaud Dugas. “It’s worth checking right now.”

He noted the winner does not necessarily live in the Laurentians, but may have been passing through when they bought the ticket. Dugas said he cannot disclose in which store the ticket was bought for security reasons to ensure the right prize is paid to the right person.

In the history of Loto-Québec, Dugas says nobody has let their ticket expire for a prize valued at more than $1 million.

“In April 2019, there was one couple who found a ticket worth $1 million in a book two days before it expired,” he said. The wife found it in a book about Japan her grandson borrowed ahead of giving an oral presentation on the country.

In the vast majority of cases, claims for large amounts like this are made within two to three weeks of the draw, Dugas added.

“But sometimes, people check at the last-minute because they’ve heard or read an article saying that Loto-Québec is looking for a millionaire,” he said.

“They end up checking the tickets that were lying around, sometimes on the refrigerator, in the glove compartment, or in a coat, and they make it in time. So that’s what we hope for in this case, too, because there are only a few days left to claim the 6/49 prize.”

The prize category is a “guaranteed prize (white ball),” with the winning selection 66457230-01, according to a Loto-Québec press release.

Unclaimed prizes are redistributed to players as bonus prizes and special draws.

Players can check their lottery tickets at lotoquebec.com, on the Loto‑Québec app, or at a retail outlet. The holders of winning tickets are urged to call Loto-Québec’s customer service team at 1-866-611-5686.

lschertzer@postmedia.com

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