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| Atlantic Lottery Corporation (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
April 26, 2012 - 1:44pm BY PAT LEE STAFF REPORTER
Whoever bought the $15.8-million winning lottery ticket in Dartmouth contacted the Atlantic Lottery office in Moncton on Thursday, but as of late in the day had not arrived to claim the prize.
Lindsay Shannon, spokeswoman for the lottery, said the authentication process can't start until the potential winner shows up at the office with the ticket.
She said that can take anywhere from several hours to several weeks.
“If everything runs smoothly, it can still take a few days” before an oversized cheque is presented, she said.
Atlantic Lotto won't reveal which retailer sold the winning ticket until a winner is declared, but a single winning ticket for $15,780,924.30 was sold in Dartmouth for Wednesday night’s Lotto 649 draw.
Someone who’s congratulated a few winners over the years is convenience store owner Tony Diab, who runs Express-Way Food and Video in Dartmouth.
Since former owners won a $5.7 million jackpot back in 1988, the store has sold tickets for five second-place prizes, at least six $100,000 payouts and more than 100 prizes of more than $1,000.
Diab jokes that his Woodlawn Road store might just be a bit of a lucky charm.
“Maybe we are a lucky place,” he said.
“But we do sell a fair amount of lottery for a small place. Even some of the lottery booth locations don’t sell what we do.”
Diab said he buys the odd ticket but isn’t much of a gambler himself.
He said he’d happily claim the retailer’s share of the winnings if it turns out his store sold the top prize for Wednesday's draw.
The retailer who sold the winning ticket will claim $157,809.24.
Other big winners this year have been a retired couple from Eastern Passage who took home $1.8 million in January and a Halifax couple who won $1 million in February.
(plee@herald.ca)
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