Kelowna man wins $31M Lotto Max jackpot in time for the holidays

A man in Kelowna got some good news when he checked his Lotto Max ticket.

Ingo Abresch won $31 million from the Lotto Max draw on Sept. 23, according to a press release from BCLC issued today, Dec. 22.

Abresch bought his draw on BCLC’s PlayNow.com and he checked his account one day while he was at work.

“I looked at my account and saw a big number in the right corner. I clicked on the ticket, and the song rang,” Abresch said in the release. “I was dumbfounded, there were lots of zeros.”

He called his partner and she was just as shocked.

“(She) was hugely skeptical about it,” Abresch said. “Even when I phoned her, she had to ask who was calling – she thought it was a scam.”

The $31 million is going to make his retirement easier, but Abresch said he isn’t going to change his lifestyle much aside from “a few more trips” and “not worry when dining out.”

The odds of winning the jackpot or a Maxmillions prize of $1 million are 1 in 33,294,800 per $5 play.

PlayNow.com is B.C.’s only legal gambling site.

British Columbia’s lottery payers have won more than $243 million over the course of 2025.