The Christmas holidays will be extra festive for Joshua Caines after the Calgarian came forward Friday to claim his $50-million Lotto Max prize after not knowing for months that he held the winning ticket.

The ticket for the Aug. 30 draw had been in Caines’s wallet and then on a shelf until he decided last month to check his numbers online.

“I had heard that the $50 million was still unclaimed in Calgary,” he said in a statement. “And I knew I had some tickets I hadn’t had time to check yet.”

One set of numbers looked like a winner, and after confirming the numbers again on his phone, Caines was an instant multimillionaire.

“I thought to myself, ‘Am I seeing this right?’” he said. “Once I showed it to a couple of people, that’s when it started to feel real.”

Caines, who bought his lucky $9 quick pick Lotto Max at the 7-Eleven store on Ranchview Drive N.W., said he has no immediate plans for his sudden windfall.

His was the only ticket to match all seven numbers in the Aug. 30 draw — 5, 9, 33, 36, 39, 41 and 44.

It’s the third lottery win of $50 million or more in Alberta this year.

Tai Trinh claimed an Alberta-record $65-million lotto windfall in October. A $60-million jackpot was won by an Edmonton man in August.