Nobody claimed a $1M NWT lotto win and now it’s gone

A million-dollar lottery win, from a ticket bought somewhere in the Northwest Territories, has expired after nobody claimed it within a year.

The holder of a winning Max Millions ticket – from the October 26, 2018 draw – had up to one year after the draw to claim their prize. That deadline came and went last weekend.

The ticket, with winning numbers 5, 8, 11, 22, 39, 42, and 43, was bought in a Northwest Territories community other than Yellowknife, officials said at the time, but they could not be any more specific.

“Unfortunately, the $1 million Max Millions prize – won on a ticket issued in the NWT for the October 26 draw – was not claimed prior to its expiry,” Western Canada Lottery Corporation spokesperson Kevin van Egdom confirmed to Cabin Radio on Tuesday.

“Now that the year has passed, the prize can’t be claimed any longer,” said Van Egdom.

The money now heads back into the prize pot for future draws.

“On national games like Lotto Max, expired unclaimed prizes are ultimately returned to players through future guaranteed jackpots or promotional draws,” Van Egdom said.

The ticket represented one of three million-dollar prizes won by Northwest Territories residents in 2018.

The other two were claimed. Bradley and Janice McNeill, from Yellowknife, bought a winning ticket at Fort Providence’s Big River gas station on their way home from Edmonton on July 13. Sarah Barnes, from Hay River, won a million dollars in November of the same year.