A lottery-ticket seller waits for consumers in Rome earlier in the week. Both Italians and Greeks are losing trust in their local banks and withdrawing their cash for other investments. State lottery

OTTAWA An Ontario couple who won a $50-million lotto prize last week stated that they predicted to have trouble collecting their winnings. Lotteries

Jo Ann and Gaetan Champagne have received a barrage of inquiries from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission : Did you buy the Lotto Max ticket? How did you come up with the numbers? Where did you get the ticket from?

The Champagnes said they aren’t fazed. “We know the rules,” announced Jo Ann.

“I remember leaving the late night store and we both looked at each other and related, ‘Oh no. They’re going to be checking us now.’”

The Champagnes are what the OLG calls “insider winners” a category that includes OLG employees, employee family members and Lotto shops.

The couple owned and operated Jo’s Depanneur, a Hawkesbury, Ont, corner store that was approved to sell Lotto tickets. They sold the business Oct. 31. Jo Ann continued to work there, but quit the day they won the cash prize on New Year’s Eve.

OLG speaker Tony Bitonti asserts the investigation is “standard procedure.”

Any prize above $1,000 is mechanically analyzed. Because the Champagnes are insider winners, there’s an additional level of scrutiny.

“We desire to make certain that we pay the right prize to the right person each time,” Bitonti asserted.

The win meant 2 inquiries : one by the OLG which wrapped up Wednesday and another by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Bitonti expects the second inquiry to take 1 or 2 days to two weeks.

“More than likely, we’ll receive a notice pronouncing everything is good,” Bitonti said. “They followed OLG rules.”

It’s not over after that, though . Following the querying is a compulsory 30-day wait period. Under OLG policy, this gives people an opportunity to call in if there are any concerns. After the 30 days, if there aren’t any concerns, the OLG will give the Champagnes their prize money.

If the Champagnes had purchased and certified the ticket at their own leisure store, they would’ve been unsuitable for the money prize. Jo Ann recounted that’s why she is bought Lotto tickets from other neighborhood shops for over a decade.

The couple stated that they are untroubled by the setback. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t get it, we didn’t do anything wrong,” related Jo Ann. “We’re sure we’re going to get it.”

The Champagnes had bought the ticket at a small convenience store in Hawkesbury. They plan on utilizing the cash to help their two sons, aged Twenty-seven and 30. They also need to get a new home and give some of their loot to the surgery and the local food shelter, which got robbed on Christmas Eve.

“We have too many plans,” Jo Ann Champagne said. “Soon we will be broke.”