Andrea Watson of King City experienced some foot shaking after she won a Lotto 6/49 prize worth $1 million in the Gold Ball Draw on July 13.
The wife and mother, who has been playing the lottery with OLG for around 15 years, says the physical reaction happened after she checked her ticket.
“I didn’t even know I won on the Gold Ball draw until I checked my ticket at the store,” Watson told OLG.
“My husband and I went there to pick up some lunch. While he went to shop, I went to the self-checker to scan my tickets. I scanned my Lotto 6/49 ticket and saw the number $1 million appear on the screen,” she recalled. “I stood there in shock, rescanned the ticket, and saw the number again. My feet started to shake as I looked around in disbelief.”
Watson called her husband over to share the exciting news.
“He said, ‘Let’s go check it somewhere else,’” she told OLG. “We went to a nearby Shoppers Drug Mart to recheck it and saw the same number. We were in shock and kept asking, ‘Is this real?’”
Watson waited until her daughter got home from work before revealing she had won.
“I showed her the ticket and she immediately said, ‘Oh, you’re pranking us.’ She just couldn’t believe it. After the reality sunk in, she was so happy for me.”
Watson’s spending plans include sharing with her loved ones, making donations, and celebrating with friends and family.
The winning ticket was bought at Shoppers Drug Mart on Hollandview Trail in Newmarket.
Persistence paid off for auto worker David Glover, 62, of Oshawa, who won a $250,000 top prize with Instant Neon Casino.
“I picked up two Neon Casino tickets, but didn’t win on either of them, so I decided to try a few more times,” Glover told OLG.
“I went to the store and asked the clerk how many more Neon Casino tickets they had. She told me there were three left, so I said, ‘I’ll take them.’ I lost on the first two. When I got to the third, I matched a few numbers and thought I won a few bucks. I didn’t even scratch off the prize amount!”
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It was the store clerk who validated the ticket as the win tone sounded.
“I finished scratching my ticket to reveal the prize amount and saw I had won $250,000,” Glover told OLG.
“I couldn’t believe it!”
Glover plans to make investments, spend some of the money, and share part of his winnings with his children.
The winning ticket was bought at Circle K on Hwy. 2 in Courtice.
It took Cornwall welder Jorge Guzman a decade to win big.
Guzman took home $132,165 after winning a Lotto Max second prize in the July 23 draw.
“I went to Walmart to have my ticket checked,” he told OLG.
“I handed it to the clerk and the lottery terminal froze. The clerk said, ‘OMG! I’ve never seen this before.’ We were both panicked and didn’t understand what was going on. We saw the message that OLG would be calling, and I just froze. I kept repeating to myself, ‘OMG! I just won the lottery!’”
With his winnings, Guzman plans to make a down payment on a house.
The winning ticket was bought at the CNIB kiosk in Walmart on Ninth Street in Cornwall.
Carlos Julio Reyes Briones, of Brampton, is lucky — not to mention $100,000 richer.
After all, he’d only been playing the lottery for the past seven months when he matched the last six of seven Encore numbers in exact order in the July 23 Lotto Max draw to win $100,000.
“I had asked my son-in-law to check my ticket for me,” the 59-year-old told OLG.
“When he broke the news of my win, I didn’t believe it! I kept saying, ‘Really? Are you joking?’
His thoughts immediately turned to his daughter. He plans to share his windfall with her so she can buy a house.
The winning ticket was bought at a gas station on Hurontario St. in Inglewood.