Lottery officials: Rightful winners of '03 jackpot getting paid
January 27th, 2011
11:14 PM ET

Lottery officials: Rightful winners of '03 jackpot getting paid

Canadian lottery officials say they’ve finally awarded to the correct people a 2003 multimillion-dollar jackpot that authorities say was fraudulently claimed by a lottery retailer’s relative.

Seven men who played Canada’s Super 7 lottery together in December 2003 were awarded a $12.5 million jackpot plus $2.35 million in interest after being declared the rightful winners, the Toronto Star reported. Each will receive $2.1 million.

“It’s a little surreal,” one of the men, Joseph Reaman, 35, of Ridgeville, Ontario, said at a news conference introducing the winners, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “I got a baby on the way, and he’s pretty much set for life.”

The correction comes after three members of a family - two of whom worked for a Burlington, Ontario, lottery outlet – were charged last year on suspicion of stealing the winning ticket, according to the CBC.

An investigation by lottery officials and provincial police revealed that one of the seven rightful winners bought a Super 7 ticket at a store in October 2003 in St. Catharines, Ontario. The buyer redeemed the ticket later at the outlet in Burlington and wasn’t told that he won a free ticket, investigators determined, according to the CBC.

That ticket went on to win a $12.5 million jackpot. It was claimed by Kathleen Chung, sister and daughter of men who worked at the outlet.

A lottery investigator learned that Chung was a relative of retailers Kenneth Chung and Jun-Chul Chung, but the lottery paid her because it couldn’t prove wrongdoing, the CBC reported.

After the CBC’s “Fifth Estate” program profiled Chung – with Chung claiming not being able to remember where she bought the ticket - provincial police investigated the case and determined that the outlet didn’t give the free ticket to its rightful owner, leading to last year’s charges, which include theft and fraud, according to the CBC.

Further investigation led authorities to determine the prize belongs to the seven men who were awarded Thursday. The men were co-workers in the construction business in 2003, the Star reported.

“After more than seven long years, the right prize is going to the right people,” a beaming Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission chair Paul Godfrey said Thursday, according to the Star.

The Chungs are free on bail as they await trial, the Star and the CBC reported.

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Filed under: Canada • Crime
soundoff (300 Responses)
  1. 7ft-american_texas

    8064401531.. i won the lottery i moved too the states for this reason. canadians argue too much over pointlkess material.. im giving my money away..

    January 29, 2011 at 6:37 am | Report abuse |
  2. cat daddy

    I would have registered to vote! Would have not passed the LEASH LAW that now makes u keep all D's on a leash. considering the intelligence in the blog, it is understandable!

    January 29, 2011 at 9:22 am | Report abuse |
  3. Chris

    AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

    January 29, 2011 at 10:02 am | Report abuse |
  4. brian harley

    y would canada allow so many years 2 pass by before playing off the rightful winners

    January 29, 2011 at 10:09 am | Report abuse |
  5. joni

    took long enough

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kJGachsPnk

    January 29, 2011 at 10:05 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Neil

    Thats so messy if you work for the company how dare u sell the winning ticket to a family member...I hope their fired and charged with many years of jail time!!

    January 30, 2011 at 1:43 pm | Report abuse |
  7. cpc65

    Those construction workers got Wang Chunged.

    January 30, 2011 at 2:05 pm | Report abuse |
  8. john

    Id probaly steal the ticket to if it was 12 mill lol

    January 31, 2011 at 8:23 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Steve

    Everyone always gets whats coming to them in the end. Thats amzing that that the authoritse acually kept on the problem and its even more amazing that the 7 guys were given intrest. That would never happen in the US.

    January 31, 2011 at 11:47 pm | Report abuse |
  10. george watson

    Justice provail good deal now do the rite thing with it I hope they go to jail for the same time they waited for it 7years that will b jistice

    February 1, 2011 at 9:07 pm | Report abuse |
  11. ANASTASIA B.SKY

    ##..DAM!... yall str8t wrkn a nurv...its az simpl as vice/verza. N human yrz they waited 7yrz, (2003-2010) rite...ok n DOG yrz thts 49yrz frekn yrz. A dog turnz 7 each year (1yr from day of birth =7)......na how bout yall go bac 2 skool:-\foolz!!!ha,lmao!!

    February 2, 2011 at 2:52 am | Report abuse |
  12. peep

    Canadians suck and should all take male penis in their stupid canadian butts, they are all the same and I hate them they need to suck my privates til they get a mouth full of my wisdom, stupid pieces of canadian crap

    February 2, 2011 at 5:03 am | Report abuse |
  13. peep

    Canadians suck all of them they need to lick my privates

    February 2, 2011 at 5:05 am | Report abuse |
  14. really?

    I am a proud to be an american, military wife, and love my country...NOTE to all my fellow americans "stop being ignorent people and mis-representing americans, my husband doesn't go to war to fight for ignorence, but for the freedom that we have, we are a blessed country that many people would love to be a part of, and you should concider your self blessed to be a part of it...stop hating hating!!!! You are an american....what else could you possibly want????

    February 2, 2011 at 6:55 pm | Report abuse |
  15. Taz Man

    To all Canooks! And dumbest US! 1yr human=7yrs dogs! We all have stupid people here! We both have people who commit crimes. Some more than others. The Chungs should be deported. But not to their own country, another one! And not give them anything to leave with, but a ride there! To the ones that read VET charts, please get glasses. To the guy with the baby on the way and the rest off the men who won. Congrats!!!!!

    February 3, 2011 at 12:27 am | Report abuse |
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