Mysterious $50M Lotto Max winners finally revealed

The intrigue-filled mystery surrounding the winner of a $50-million Lotto Max prize drawn over a year-and-a-half ago was finally solved when the winning ticket holders publicly accepted their prize Tuesday in Vancouver.

Husband and wifeFriedrich andAnnandMayrhofer, and sonEric, all fromLangley, B.C., posed for pictures with the oversized novelty cheque, the very thing they had hoped to avoid.

"This is an enormous prize," said Friedrich Mayrhofer. "We didn't know what to do. But we're public now."

"We're shy, private people" he added. "So this is a big step for us."

The Mayrhofershad attempted to keep their identities private by signingthe winning ticket over to a trust before it was presented to the B.C. Lottery Commission in March of 2015, a full year after the winning numbers had been drawn and just days before the deadline to claim the prize.

BCLCCEO Jim Lightbody called the circumstances "unique" leading to a lengthy prize claim review.In June of 2015 it was concludedonly an individual or group of individuals can claim lottery winnings.

The Mayrhofers resubmitted a prize claim as a group last month.

The Mayrhofers say they have no plans to move out of thehouse they've lived in for 36 years, but will use some of the money to remodel and buy new furniture.