Ongoing legal claim delaying payment of $50m Lotto Max jackpot

ONGOING LEGAL CLAIM DELAYING PAYMENT OF $50M LOTTO MAX JACKPOT

A $50m Lotto Max jackpot won in the draw held on March 14, 2014 still hasn't been paid out as a dispute over who purchased the winning ticket continues.The British Colombia Lottery Corp (BCLC) says that the $50m Lotto Max win is being delayed by the "prize claim verification process." However, as we reported in December, a lawsuit has been filed in B.C. Supreme Court involving a pool of buyers and one of their co-workers, who claims he did not purchase tickets for the draw in which the jackpot was won.The winning ticket was purchased in Langley but the $50m Lotto Max prize wasn't claimed until just five days before the winning jackpot ticket was about to expire. The BCLC estimates the holder of the ticket missed out on an estimated $900,000 in interest.BCLC spokesman Chris Fairclough has confirmed the winning $50m Lotto Max ticket is genuine but has given few details about the winners. "We are still going through the prize claim verification process and there is no time limit associated with prize claim verification.”The ongoing lawsuit filed by Gayleen Elliot against co-worker Dabir Sidhu, who had been in charge of the lottery pool since 2012, claims that "the defendant has been in fraudulent possession of, and has knowingly converted, the March 14, 2014 tickets, one of which is the winning Quick Pick lottery ticket, for his own benefit and without the pool's permission."Sidhu initially claimed that he had purchased tickets for the March 14 Lotto Max draw but last November he sent out an email that changed his story. He said he'd made a mistake and didn't actually buy the lottery tickets and blamed family engagements around the date of the draw for his lapse of memory.Elliott's lawyer James Vivang said: "We’ve been told by the Lottery Corp. the matter is under investigation and we will await the results of that investigation."The $50m Lotto Max win is tied for the largest lottery prize ever won in B.C. It matches the $50m won by Kurt and Claude Blanchette-Ebert from Vancouver in October 2010.Whenever you buy your lottery tickets online at Lottery24.com you receive a written notification with your numbers and the draw dates you are taking part in.