B.C. lottery winner claims Lotto Max prize two years after winning $50 million

B.C. LOTTERY WINNER CLAIMS LOTTO MAX PRIZE TWO YEARS AFTER WINNING $50 MILLION

A lottery player from British Columbia in Western Canada has won a huge $50 million Lotto Max prize, but he waited for almost two years to claim the prize.Friedrich Mayrhofer, who is from Langley, just south of Vancouver, in British Columbia, won his prize on the March 14th draw in 2014, and has now claimed that jackpot 21 months after the draw took place. Mr Mayrhofer came forward on Tuesday together with his Annand and their son Eric, and showed lottery officials a picture of himself the last time he won the lottery, twenty years earlier when he was posing with an oversized cheque worth $1,000.“It took 20 years to get a few more zeros on the end,” said the Lotto Max winner who admitted that he and his family are very shy and private, and therefore wanted to claim their lottery prize anonymously, as we told you back in April, which British Columbia lottery law does not allow. The mystery winning ticket attracted a lot of press over the last 21 months, especially after a lawyer for the family tried to claim the lottery prize on behalf of a trust that had been set up earlier this year, but a lottery review determined that only a person can claim a winning ticket, and it must be the same person that buys that ticket. The ticket holder was also placed under scrutiny when it was connected with a lawsuit in which a woman accused her co-worker of concealing the winning lottery ticket from their workplace syndicate.B.C. Lottery Corporation president Jim Lightbody admitted that the entire situation has been one of a kind, “this has been a very unique situation for all of us involved, let alone the winners. And there has been significant public interest in this win,” he said. More than 700 people made inquiries about the Lotto Max prize, and every single one of them had to be reviewed before they were turned down.The $50 million Lotto Max winner admitted that claiming the prize was a lot easier than he had first expected, and said that his family is now looking forward to spending the money. Renovating their home and buying some new furniture are at the top of the list, but Mr Mayrhofer said that he will continue playing the Lotto Max. “If I win Friday, I’ll be here on Monday, I’ll make up for the last lost interest,” he told the assembled press as he posed with his cheque and made no mention of retiring with his winnings, unlike Stephanie Lewis and Keith Hayman who promised to retire with their $30 million Canadian Lotto Max jackpot, despite being in their twenties.For your chance of becoming the next big winner, play online with us at Lottery24.com.