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Cornelius Naujoks had the winning ticket — but the $1-million Lotto Max win sat in his desk for nine months before he finally checked it.

The Whitecourt man set the ticket aside after purchasing it at Shefield & Sons at Northgate Centre in Edmonton.

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“I was organizing my desk a few weeks ago and found a big stack of lottery tickets,” he said.

“I took them to the store — I couldn’t believe it when I scanned this ticket and all of the zeroes came up on the screen.”

Naujoks won by matching the numbers 3, 10, 25, 26, 33, 39 and 47 to one of the draws last Dec. 15. He initially checked his ticket against the main draw numbers but for nine months didn’t check the 15 sets of MaxMillions numbers also drawn on Dec. 15.

He says he now has big plans for his winnings, including the purchase of a house and treating himself to some new wheels.

“I’ve already spoken to someone at the dealership,” he said. “I would really like to buy a Ford Mustang GT.”