The Atlantic Lottery Corp. is launching an investigation because the winner has a connection to a ticket retailer. (CBC)

The Atlantic Lottery Corp. is launching an automatic review into a Saint John man who won $7.6 million in the 6/49 draw on Saturday night.

Courtney Pringle, a spokeswoman with the Atlantic Lottery Corp., said all claims of more than $10,000 are reviewed, but in this case, it's what the corporation calls a non-arms-length win.

"The person who brought forward the ticket is either a retail owner, a retail employee, an employee of Atlantic lottery, a supplier of Atlantic lottery, or an immediate family member of one of those parties," Pringle said.

Pringle said in these cases, a review is triggered after a win of just $1,000, and that review takes at least 30 days.

The Saint John man was the only one in Canada to match all six numbers in the game, and his ticket is worth $7,671,814, officials said.

The Atlantic Lottery Corp. is withholding the name of winning ticketholder, but it's probably the worst kept secret in Saint John.

Doug Finch was among the family and friends who helped Josh Clain, a local construction worker, celebrate after the draw.

He took his guests to Moncton in limousines to pick up the cash before he knew the cheque presentation was on hold for a month.

"He's up in Moncton having a blast. He took us all out, took a limo up and back, lost my voice because of it," Finch said.

The lottery corporation cracked down on how it deals with winning tickets held by retailers or their relatives three years ago.

In 2007, an internal ALC report showed lottery retailers are winning 10 times as often as statistically probable.

In May 2007, the corporation introduced a series of new measures to protect customers and their winnings, including the rules on investigations for retailer wins.