Some advice on what to do if you win the $70M Lotto Max prize
Ontario Lottery & Gaming is again seeing record lottery ticket sales, with an estimated $140 million in prizes up for grabs in tonight’s Lotto Max draw, including a $70 million top prize.
Tony Bitonti, OLG’S director of communications, said Ontario has seen its share of $70 million winners.
“There have been six $70 million winners across Canada -- four of them here in Ontario,” Bitonti said. “And I’ve had the pleasure of meeting all four of them and presenting them with that astronomical cheque.”
Bitonti said reactions to winning such a big prize are probably what you would expect.
“When I first meet them, they are giddy, they are in shock, and then within a few moments when I present them with the cheque, even though it’s a novelty cheque, they know that that money is imminent, it’s going into their bank account within minutes,” he said.
According to the OLG, the odds of winning the $70 million payout with a single play is 1 in 33.2 million. A Noellville, Ont., couple won $70 million in February.
lf you defy the odds and find yourself with one a winning ticket, Pattie Lovett-Reid, chief financial commentator for CTV News, has some advice. Lovett-Reid's first tip is to resist telling anyone, at least not right away.
“Family, friends, charities, they all come knocking, and you may be unprepared in terms of how to respond,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that you don’t respond and you don’t give, because I think you do. I also think you get to spend, but you need to know what to save. So you have to have a plan.”
Lovett-Reid said a big lottery win, or any sudden windfall, should be followed up with a call to a lawyer, accountant or financial adviser. She also suggest three simple rules: spend some, give some, save some.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.