Credit card purchase key to tracking down winner
An unbelievable set of circumstances have come together for Kathryn Jones, who won $50 million from an unclaimed Lotto Max prize drawn a year ago — a win for which she lost the ticket and never checked the numbers.
The Hamilton woman had absolutely no clue she could be a winner when Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation officials showed up at her door a while back wanting to talk to her, she said Tuesday at a news conference at the OLG headquarters in Toronto.
Jones said she and her husband, Richard, weren't sure they even wanted to let the officials into the house until they showed identification and convinced her they were the real deal.
"I honestly thought, 'You've got the wrong person,'" she recalled.
They asked her about her buying pattern for Lotto tickets, whether she still had her ticket, and a few other questions before she had to rush out and leave them to talk further with her husband. She had to leave for a business trip and the cab taking her to the airport had arrived, she said.
It wasn't until the next day, when she spoke to Richard, that she learned he had checked the OLG website and learned there was an unclaimed prize of $50 million from around the time she bought her ticket at a Shoppers Drug Mart on Dundas St. in Cambridge, where she works as an engineer.
"I kept thinking: This is unreal. It must be a mistake," said Jones, 55.
She still doesn't know where the ticket is, though she has since searched her house thoroughly. "It's not there."
The OLG found her after investigating a claim they had received for the unclaimed $50 million prize. That months-long investigation led them to Jones.
They knew exactly where, what day, and at what time the ticket was purchased. They also knew it was the only $16 ticket purchase that day at the Shoppers Drug Mart, and that the $16 ticket contained the winning jackpot numbers from the Nov. 30, 2012, Lotto Max draw.
Equally important, they knew it was paid for with a credit card. That's how they found Jones, who said she normally buys Lotto tickets randomly, and with cash. But that day, she had purchased a few other items at the drugstore and decided to pay the full bill by credit card, she said.
Investigators also obtained the store's video surveillance, which shows Jones buying the ticket at the precise time the winning ticket was purchased.
Since the announcement of the winning ticket on Nov. 30 of last year, 435 people inquired about the prize, but Jones never did.
Had she paid with cash, they might not have found her, said Mike Hamel, head of OLG's corporate investigations. Using a credit card "made it a lot easier" to find her, he said.
It is the first time OLG has approached a lottery winner instead of the other way around.
On Thursday, Nov. 28, lottery officials certified Jones as the winner.
It also conducted an independent review after learning Jones' sister owns a retail outlet in Ottawa that sells OLG lottery tickets.
There are no issues preventing a prize payout to Jones, other than a 30-day waiting period for OLG to publicize the claim to make sure no one else comes forward. If there are no additional valid claims in the 30 days, Jones will receive her prize in January.
She is still in disbelief and said she hasn't thought about what she might do with the money or whether she'll quit her job.
She was joined after the OLG news conference by Richard Jones, 54, also an engineer, who works in Hamilton.
"It's been a great story... who would have thought?" he said. "It's only been the last few days we've known for sure."
Kathy Jones said the couple told their two grown children — both in university — on the weekend about the win. "My son gave me a lecture on being responsible," she said. But other than that, he's more concerned about getting through exams right now, she said.
She said she is "extremely appreciative and very thankful" of the OLG investigation. "It's incredible."
She also said the family would like to live as normally as possible over the next month and through the Christmas holidays.
Rod Phillips, OLG's president and CEO, when asked if there's something peculiar about Hamilton to produce as many lottery winners as it has lately, jovially said, "We've been wondering that ourselves. Must be the clean living . . . I think they're just lucky."
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I already started a thread about this incident yesterday.
A happy ending for them, that's great!
Seem like nice people.
God Bless 'em.
I love Canadians.
435 people inquired about it. SHE PAID BY CREDIT CARD. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. showed up @ her door. CONGRATULATIONS MRS JONES.
Yeah, but the credit card purchase is the key.
That is a direct electronic link between a person and the ticket. That's the difference in this news story compared to what you posted in the forums. It makes sense now.
Wow! Congrats! i love happy stories like this.
The credit card isn't the key.
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/239531
The service industry people in Florida hate 'em cuz they don't tip.
My only complaint is that their bacon is in the shape of a hockey puck.
And they call their french fries hot chips.
And they talk funny.
Outside of that, no problem whatsoever.
had she paid with cash they might nothave found her. using a credit card made it a lot easier.
The credit card isn't the key.
Huh??? Are you just being contrarian? I don't get it, it's the first line in the story:
Credit card purchase key to tracking down winner
Please explain why it isn't the key, and what's really the key.
But as far as your very valid link about not posting news stories to the forums, most long time members already know that. I've even told people not to do it before. I even hinted at it here with my wording but didn't say it outright: "...difference in this news story compared to what you posted in the forums"
What's interesting about this story is that she paid by credit card as they certainly don't allow that to go on in any state I've played. I wonder if they meant debit card but it could be different in Canada.
Credit card instead of a video with timestamp and everything. Tell that to real cops and they will laugh your behind out of California. Even the woman said on the news, that she was identified from the video. This investigator must be smoking the same $hit that Mayor Rob Ford was smoking.
Contrarian?
He commented about his previous thread, your comment was the credit card was the key.
It appeared he didn't know about the rule, and why Todd started another thread.
He's 7 months with under 400 post. Silly me I got the impression he might not know about the rule.
What????
I'm glad she got her $50 million dollars. And they are Canadian so it's tax free. They get all of the money. It's better than the stories of the unclaimed jackpots that have expired.
This has a happy ending.
Very happy ending.
The credit card was the key, along with video tape, time stamp, dollar amount($16). But without the credit card they couldn't have traced the purchase back to her.
God Bless you too!
That is why Powerball, Mega Millions and other US state lotteries need to start allowing people to purchase tickets using credit cards so that those announcements about unclaimed prizes can become a thing of the past. Those that offer online purchases already allow use of credit cards in that instance but not when purchasing at a retailer like this lady did in Canada. The kicker is that she actually took home $50 million...not some after tax amount since Canada does not tax lottery winnings.
Wait...You can buy lotto with a credit card in Canada?? In California they always need cash ...how about other states?
Americans should also be able to pay for lotteries with credit cards. Its the Congress that's holding us back.
Although here in NJ, I have seen mom and pops let chasers (scratch ticket afficionados) run tabs and charge them on credit cards as store purchases. Same way the Casinos who hit their ATM max limits, withdraw money from their checking accounts. They charge it as POS Purchases.
Absolutely not. Yeah, that's what I want my tax dollars going for to pay off some addicts credit card bill that was run up with lottery purchases.
But the Lotteries supports seniors and schools. Dont you want to help them out.
The two places I buy lotto have cash only signs for lotto purchases in their stores. But she was lucky that the lotto found her through their investigation. January will be like a second christmas for that family when they get the lotto check from the lottery. Congrats and spend it big time.-weshar75
This is not right. What if the ticket fell out of her purse when she walked out of the store and someone came along and saw it and picked it up. Since tickets are a bearer instrument whoever has the ticket should be entitled to the jackpot as long as they didn't steal it. What if now someone comes forward with the ticket? how would they deny them the jackpot? this sets a bad precedence. You should have to actually have the physical ticket to be able to claim the prize.
No thank you. I don't even think people should be able to take cash advances on their credit cards. Filing should be much harder than it is presently.
I watch small corner stores let people pay for lottery tickets with their Link Cards (Illinois Foodstamp) and they buy cigarettes and all this other nonsense.
I'm glad they don't allow anybody to buy tickets on credit or the courts would be filled with idiots who went broke.
There's a big difference between food stamps paying for lottery tickets and someone with a credit card paying for lottery tickets. That person has to pay their credit card bill, not you. Frankly, I hate walking around with cash. I use my CC to make my purchases, rack up points at the same time and at the end of the month pay the bill. I'm not sure how any one else would get into what I use my CC to buy. Food stamps are a whole other matter. I wouldn't want my tax dollars to go towards someone else buying lottery tickets. The courts are already filled with idiots who went broke. A gambling addict without a credit card will still be broke.
Well then that person should have come forward in the year that the JP has been waiting to be claimed. Had they come forward there would have been no reason for the lottery officials to try to track down the person who actually bought it. In any case, she still has to wait another 30 days in case someone does make a claim on it. So I'm not seeing how it isn't right. If no one came forward with the ticket and they found the person who paid for the ticket, it's a good thing all around. A miraculous story with a happy ending. Don't be a Debbie Downer.
She gets the money even though she has no ticket? wow Canada!!!
Appears that things are probably going to pay off BIG, soon, for Canada's scatter-brained Kathryn Jones!
Glad she's getting the money.
In Texas you can use a debit card because it allows the customer to input their pin.
Yes when I'm in Forida most places allow for credit card purchase of tickets. I mean it's debit. Better that way then caring around my $500 I'm gonna spend on MegaMillions if it reaches...1billion...or abouve 700million$ Watch
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Did you notice the part of the story that says the lottery officials were able to locate her because she used the credit card? The video was another piece of evidence, and might have let them locate her if they had publicized it, but it was the credit card that let them track her down.
Real investigators love credit card receipts, electronic tolls, and other things that are registered to people, because that can let them identify people easily. Video only provides evidence that somebody with an often vague appearance was at a location at the time the video was captured. That time may or may not be the same as the time stamp, because there's no guarantee that every video device is set to the correct time. Maybe you recall a recent article about the CA (?) lottery failing to locate a player despite having video showing the purchase. Same thing for the Iowa jackpot that the lottery refused to pay.
Your cash is a bearer instrument, too. Do you think it stops belonging to you the instant you drop it? Unless the woman deliberately disposed of the ticket it still belongs to her according to the laws in the majority of the developed world.
Lucky couple.
Too bad America doesn't allow one to use Credit and Debit cards to buy tickets. Unless it's online. That 50 mill is also tax free.