$31-million lottery ticket sold in Cape Breton, largest win ever in the Maritimes

Atlantic Lottery says someone in Cape Breton has a record-breaking, multimillion-dollar winning lottery ticket.

The winning ticket from Tuesday’s Lotto Max draw was sold in New Waterford, N.S., according to a press release early Wednesday morning.

The ticket is worth $31 million.

According to Atlantic Lottery, it is the largest lotto win ever in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes.

Greg Weston, a communication strategist with Atlantic Lottery, says the news is “exciting.”

“It’s what everyone’s talking about here today in the office … it’s a really big deal and we’re all really excited. Basically, it’s the word of the day,” he said during an interview with CTV’s Amanda Debison.

He adds that the odds of winning the Lotto Max jackpot are 1 in 33,294,800.

Atlantic Lottery says the largest prize ever won in Atlantic Canada was $60 million in Newfoundland and Labrador in February 2018.

In 2020, a Cape Breton couple won $17.4 million in a Lotto 6/49 jackpot. Raymond and Gaye Lillington of Dingwall, N.S., also won another jackpot worth $3.2 million seven years earlier.

Weston says it didn’t take long to confirm the previous lottery wins to the latest record-breaking ticket.

“We just had to dig and make sure that this one was bigger than the existing record … so it really is a big jump when you get to numbers like that. It doesn’t take too long to verify that it’s a big one.”

Atlantic Lottery says details on the prizewinner, or winners, and store location, will be released once they come forward and the win is confirmed.

If the prize is awarded successfully, the business where the ticket was purchased would receive a one-per-cent seller’s prize.

As of noon Wednesday, the winner had not come forward.

“We haven’t heard from the winner yet, but obviously we’re ready and willing to take their call and we’re definitely looking forward to hearing from them,” said Weston.

Atlantic Lottery recommends winners sign the back of their ticket.

“That proves that it’s theirs and it establishes their ownership of it, so that’s always a good idea. Then the second thing is to reach out to us when they’re ready,” says Weston. “From then, they’ll get put in touch with our winners team and begin the claim process. That’ll take them through, we’ll set up an appointment with them and they’ll meet with one of our winners team and guide them through how they can claim their prize.”

If someone believes they have the winning ticket they can contact the Atlantic Lottery Customer Care Centre at 1-800-561-3942 or [e-mail]

As for whether a big cheque is ready to present to the winner?

“We’ve always got a stack of them ready and willing to go for all of our winners – $30 million, $31 million, right on down to smaller prizes – but we haven’t filled it out yet,” Weston says. “We’ll wait until we hear from the lucky winner before we do that.” 

Speculations of who won the jackpot were already making their way around the area.

"Everybody is getting texts. There's a lot of different names flying around, but I'm sure we will know by tomorrow," said one person on Wednesday.