Eight Quebecers share $40 million Lotto Max jackpot, three winning tickets still unclaimed

Christmas surprise: $40 million lottery prize It's quite the Christmas surprise: a group of strangers will be sharing a jackpot of $40 million from Loto-Quebec.

A handful of Quebecers will embark on some extreme budgeting this holiday season after picking up winning tickets for a massive $40 million Lotto Max draw.

Six Montrealers and one man from Laval made up the 10 winners, meaning there are still three people who have not yet claimed their millionaire-making prize.

Ransfor K. Churcher says he only checked his ticket days after Friday's draw, and learned he had won as he was getting ready for Sunday service.

“I saw it, I put it back in the Loto-Quebec bag,” he said during a Thursday press conference, flanked by the other winners.

“I took a shower, and then I told my wife, ‘when I get back from church, I will tell you something,'” he said.

“I went to church, and came back home at two in the afternoon. I told her I had won something from Loto-Quebec,” he continued. “She asked ‘how much?’ I told her ‘check it yourself.'”

“When she looked, she said ‘oh my God’” – Churcher had won $4 million.

Along with Churcher, the other six winners included Edmond Protoduari, Belen Quinzola Desacada, Jovita Cruz Deladia San Jose, Rosalinda Elupre Arunga, and Joseph Aguro, all from Montreal, as well as Than Lan Phan from Laval.

Jovita Cruz Deladia San Jose said that when she went to check her ticket at a lottery kiosk, the cashier had trouble telling her how much she had won.

“When I asked the teller, he said, ‘there are too many zeros,’” she told reporters. Her ticket also won $4 million.

A sweets fan, she says she plans to take a trip to Belgium to taste the chocolate.

“That’s the best place for chocolate that I know,” she said.

EPILEPSY ASSOCIATION GETS MASSIVE COMMISSION, AGAIN

The winning ticket was sold at a kiosk operated by the Quebec Epilepsy Association (QEA), earning the association a one per cent commission, which comes out to $400,000.

It was the association's second windfall commission after another kiosk located in Brossard, Que. sold a $50 million ticket in 2019.

“[In 2019], we won another big prize of $500,000,” she said during the press conference, pausing for a round of applause from Loto-Quebec staff. She says the money has allowed the association to set up bursaries for students researching epilepsy.

The commission will also help the association pay for service dogs, housing, and support for patients dealing with epilepsy.

MISSING WINNERS BOUGHT TICKETS AT THE SAME PLACE

The other three winners of the Lotto Max Draw, who are likely unaware they’ve become overnight millionaires, also bought their tickets from the QEA kiosk.

That kiosk is located in Montreal’s Plaza Cote-des-Neiges.

“Loto-Quebec is calling on all Quebec players to check their tickets,” read a press release from the crown corporation.

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