Unclaimed $64M Gold Ball lottery ticket sold in Canadian county of 78,000 people — it now expires in less than a month
Make sure you don't miss a chance to secure a life-changing prize.
April 2, Update: The winning ticket was claimed by Merel Chiasson, a fisherman from Bas-Caraquet, N.B. To read more about how he waited 347 days to claim his prize as part of his lottery system, see here.
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There's now less than a month for one lottery player to claim their winning Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball jackpot, which was sold in Gloucester County, N.B.
It's part of the April 15, 2023 draw for a guaranteed $64 million prize. Players only have one year from the draw date to claim their prize. The winning numbers are 93331474-01, and players must match all nine numbers to win.
This is the largest lottery prize ever recorded in Atlantic Canada. It used to be tied for a national record until September 2023, when a ticket for a guaranteed $68 million jackpot was sold in Ontario.
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation is reminding residents to double check their pockets, backpacks, desk drawers and glove compartments in your car, because someone out there is holding on to the lucky lottery ticket worth $64 million.
That's especially true if you were in Gloucester County, N.B., which only has a population of roughly 78,000, according to Statistics Canada.
"Ensuring players receive the prizes they are entitled to is the most important thing we do here at Atlantic Lottery," said the organization's public relations strategist, Lindsay Meekins, to Yahoo Canada.
"We are using both social and traditional media to help raise awareness that a prize is outstanding and to remind players to look for any tickets they may not have checked yet, in hopes that a winner will come forward."
If no one comes forward to claim their prize, and the ticket does expire on April 15, 2024, the prize money will go into the unclaimed prize fund to be redistributed to players in the form of future prizes.
Players should contact the ALC Customer Care Centre at 1-800-561-3942 or info@alc.ca to verify how they could claim their prize.
Lotto 6/49 offers players the chance to win two multi-million-dollar jackpots on every $3 play. The Classic Draw offers a $5-million jackpot every Wednesday and Saturday. The Gold Ball draw, however, is a new format introduced in September 2022, and guarantees a winner every time.
It starts at $10 million, and includes 30 balls in the draw: 29 white and 1 gold. Each white ball is worth $1 million, whereas the gold ball represents the lucky jackpot prize. This Gold Ball jackpot continues to grow by $2 million each time a white ball is drawn, until it reaches $68 million with no more white balls remaining — which then guarantees a winner. The $64 million Gold Ball jackpot from April 15 is the largest lottery prize ever won in Atlantic Canada.
Tools to stop gambling
If you're looking to take a break from gambling, self-exclusion programs can be effective tools. See here for resources that are available across Canada.
