The Christmas holidays will be extra festive for Joshua Caines after the Calgarian came forward Friday to claim his $50-million Lotto Max prize after not knowing for months that he held the winning ticket.
The ticket for the Aug. 30 draw had been in Caines’ wallet and then on a shelf until he decided last month to check his numbers online.
“I had heard that the $50 million was still unclaimed in Calgary,” he said in a statement. “And I knew I had some tickets I hadn’t had time to check yet.”
One set of numbers looked like a winner, and after confirming the numbers again on his phone, Caines was an instant multimillionaire.
“I thought to myself, ‘Am I seeing this right?’ ” he said. “Once I showed it to a couple of people, that’s when it started to feel real.”
Caines, who bought his lucky $9 quick pick Lotto Max at the 7-Eleven store on Ranchview Drive N.W., said he has no immediate plans for his sudden windfall.
His was the only ticket match all seven numbers in the Aug. 30 draw — 5, 9, 33, 36, 39, 41 and 44.
It’s the third lottery win of $50 million or more in Alberta this year.
Tai Trinh claimed an Alberta-record $65 million lotto windfall in October. A $60-million jackpot was won by an Edmonton man in August.