LUCK OF THE DRAW: Canada's wildest lottery stories
· Toronto Sun
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Mere hours before a $40-million Lotto Max was set to expire , someone came forward.
That’s right, one full year after the Oct. 28, 2025, draw, the winning ticket, sold somewhere in Grey County, was claimed.
The down-to-the-wire $40-million ticket validation on Wednesday isn’t the first wild story to come out of the lottery world, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Tony Bitonti, OLG’s director of communications, recalled the unclaimed $70-million Lotto Max ticket sold in Scarborough in 2023 as one of the most memorable cases. He also described identifying the $50-million winner who had lost her ticket as “wonderful.”
We’ll learn the details of this week’s huge jackpot winner and how it all came to a dramatic end soon enough, OLG told the Toronto Sun .
Until then, let’s look at some other crazy lottery tales that might shock you.
Teenage dream
Juliette Lamour probably isn’t a household name, but you’ve likely heard her story.
The 18-year-old from Garden River First Nation won $48 million on the first lottery ticket she ever bought, making her the youngest person in Canadian history to hit a major jackpot.
She had just become legal to play the lottery when her grandfather suggested she grab a ticket “for fun.”
Bitonti recalled how she had to “call her father from the store to ask him about buying the ticket.”
And like any teen, Lamour forgot about the ticket until news spread that the winning Lotto 6/49 ticket worth $48 million had been purchased in the Soo.
Finishing school and travelling were two things on Juliette’s list of things to do.
“I really want to come back to this area as a doctor so I can give back to my community,” she shared at the time.
Lady Luck calls twice — in one day
In Delaware, a 70-year-old woman — who understandably wanted to remain anonymous — had just claimed a $100,000 lottery prize in November 2022.
On the way home, she and her friend stopped, and she rewarded herself with three Serious Money tickets. One turned out to be a $300,000 winner.
“When I scratched the $300,000 winning ‘Serious Money’ ticket later in the day, we just sat there in disbelief,” the woman recalled. “It was absolute insanity.”
She and her friend simply got back in the car and headed to lottery headquarters to claim her money.
Insane, indeed. The odds of winning on the Serious Money ticket are 1 in 150,000, according to the Delaware Lottery website .
Fourth time’s a charm
In August 2022, Jeffrey Gurczenski marked his third lottery win — a cool $92,131.50 playing Poker Lotto All-In, plus $5,000 on the instant portion of his scratch ticket, bringing his total winnings to $97,131.50.
Prior to that, he had won $10,000 twice, both times with Wheel of Fortune tickets.
But the Mississauga retiree wasn’t done. Four months later, he took home his biggest lottery prize win to date: $150,000 on The Bigger Spin Instant game.
“When it landed on $150,000 my heart was racing!” he said while picking up his winnings at Toronto’s OLG Prize Centre. “I was so happy.”
Keeping it under wraps
While many lottery winners keep their names private, a man in China went one step further by claiming his winnings in a very concealing costume.
Granted, it was right before Halloween in 2022.
Dressed as a yellow cartoon character, the man also used the pseudonym Li to collect the 220-million-yuan jackpot (about $41 million) .
“I have not told my wife or kid,” he explained, per the South China Morning Post . “I am concerned that they might feel superior to other people and will not work or study hard in future.”
Arrested developments
Just because someone wins the lottery doesn’t mean they’re going to change.
In James Farthing’s case, however, a little change would go a long way.
The Kentucky man may have scored the state’s largest-ever lottery win — a $167.3-million Powerball jackpot in April 2025 — but his criminal record only continued to grow.
That’s right. Before his massive win, the 51-year-old had spent about 30 years in prison for a multitude of offences .
Since the win, he has been arrested five times , most recently last month for public alcohol intoxication.
Can’t win ’em all.