The Surrey resident who bought the $80-million, jackpot-winning Lotto Max ticket will be introduced Thursday morning (May 15).
An 11:30 a.m. news conference is planned at the BCLC office in Vancouver.
This story will be updated with the winner's name and other details as they emerge.
, the lucky ticket-holder has scored the largest jackpot prize ever won in B.C., and the largest prize ever won by a single individual in Canada, according to BCLC (British Columbia Lottery Corporation).
The seven winning numbers were 6, 10, 16, 17, 30, 38, and 48.
Thursday's introduction event will be livestreamed on the , where people are congratulating the winner and adding other amusing comments.
"Please be a relative, please be a relative, please be a relative鈥�" posted Laurie Anne.
"Here鈥檚 hoping it鈥檚 a group of people who won," added Sandra McHeffey.
"I hope that they have fun spreading their fortune and have good health to see the happiness it brings to those (they) share it with," commented Donna de Mooy.
Posted Adam Pilling: "I lived the dream for 2 days refusing to check my ticket... Would I work if I won, would I buy a house, etc... Finally checked the ticket on Monday... $1.00. Yay haha."
Back in March 2010, Lotto Max players Derek and Francis Bird of Guildford won $25 million, which at the time was a record-setting lottery prize win in B.C. Both had been postal workers prior to the monster win, and had recently returned from a cruise to Mexico, where they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Their winning $11 Lotto Max ticket was bought at the Save-On-Foods at 152nd Street and Fraser Highway.
On Father鈥檚 Day 2008, Surrey鈥檚 Gary Sobolik won $21.9 million in the Lotto 6/49 draw after buying a Quick Dip ticket at the Family Lucky Holdings lottery kiosk outside the Safeway grocery store at Sunshine Hills in North Delta.
In 2012, a legal fight over a $12.6-million lottery win involved two former Surrey business partners, Maria Theresa Linsenmeier (Fehr) and Maria Louise Ganguin, who ran a coffee truck. A B.C. Supreme Court judge said a full-blown trial was necessary to decide if the lotto win should be kept by one of the women, or split in half.
鈥攚ith files from Tom Zytaruk
