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With Ontario’s lottery prize centre closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a mystery winner who bought a $70-million ticket in Chatham Kent could be losing more than $26,000 a week in interest on one of the largest jackpots in the province’s history.

That $26,000 figure – based on the top GIC rate of 1.95 per cent offered in Canada Thursday – would actually be enough for the winner to buy a new Porsche Cayman every four weeks.

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When coming into this kind of money, Greg Davenport, a financial adviser with Chatham’s Edward Jones, believes taking the time to properly prepare for the future is worth the immediate loss of interest.

“You keep very quiet on it and you assemble a team of professionals, which would include your financial adviser, your accountant and your attorney … before you even start planning anything,” he said.

An immediate step for a jackpot winner, Davenport added, should be to “lock down your anonymity” in the short term and find a way to protect the ticket. If still working, Davenport suggested showing up on the job. And, he added, it’s a good idea to stay off social media completely.