Greater Sudbury grandmother wins $400K lottery prize based on popular gameshow
After playing the lottery for more than 40 years, a Greater Sudbury woman made a huge windfall playing a scratch ticket game.
Rachelle McLean, a grandmother from the community of Worthington, won $400,000 playing Instant Plinko, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. said in a news release Monday.
Rachelle McLean of Worthington won $400K playing Instant Plinko. Sept. 17, 2024 (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.)
The lottery game is based on a popular The Price is Right gameshow.
- Download the CTV News app now
- Get local breaking news alerts
- Daily newsletter with the top local stories emailed to your inbox
It started with the scratch ticket and ended with McLean dropping a chip on the big Plinko board at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto.
"I went to the store to validate my ticket, and as the Plinko chip drop was playing on the screen, I thought I had won $20," she is quoted as saying in the news release.
Instead of an instant monetary prize, if the word CHIP matches one of the 'lucky' numbers on the top of the card, an animated chip drop plays on the lottery retailer's screen when the ticket is scanned.
"The Chip landed on Plinko, and the screen turned pink," McLean said.
"The clerk got very excited, so I knew I must have won something big. She explained that OLG would be calling shortly. I just couldn’t believe it!"
In addition to guaranteed prizes ranging from $10 to $10,000, if the animated chip lands on the PLINKO spot, the game moves to the Toronto prize centre.
She said when she called her husband to tell him he didn't understand her.
"He just kept saying, 'Make sure you take your time and get home safely,'" McLean said.
The chip drop in Toronto has a guaranteed prize with amounts ranging from $100,000 to $500,000.
McLean bought her winning ticket at the Petro-Canada gas station on Atherly Road in Orillia.
Playsmart offers information on gambling games.
If you or someone you know is struggling with problem gambling, help is available.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They're never going to see me cry': Michael Kovrig shares experience of more than 1,000 days in Chinese detainment
It's been exactly three years since Canadian Michael Kovrig returned to Canada after spending 1,019 days in a Chinese prison. Now, he's publicly speaking out about his arrest and detainment for the first time.
Cineplex ordered to pay $38.9M by Competition Tribunal in ticket fee case
Cineplex Inc. has been ordered to pay a record $38.9 million fine after the Competition Tribunal found the theatre owner guilty of deceptive marketing practices.
Is COVID XEC worse than other variants? Experts share what's known about the virus in Canada
While many Canadians no longer stress as much about COVID-19 as they did during its peak, health experts say a new variant has been spreading in some parts of the world and is now present in Canada.
Police investigating sudden death of 2-year-old boy in Cambridge, Ont.
Police say a toddler in Cambridge, Ont., who was reported missing early Monday morning, has since died.
Israeli strikes kill 492 in Lebanon's deadliest day of conflict since 2006
Israeli strikes on Lebanon Monday killed more than 490 people, including more than 90 women and children, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Calgary men guilty in multimillion-dollar fraud case involving B.C. RV resort
On Sept. 20, Justice R.E. Nation of the Alberta Court of King's Bench found Craig McMorran guilty of fraud, money laundering and stealing a cottage from its rightful owners.
WestJet ordered to pay passengers $2K after offering only $16 for flight diversion
B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered WestJet to refund a family in full for their diverted flight and compensate them for associated costs.
Lockdown notice issued for residents near Port of Montreal due to lithium battery fire
The City of Montreal has issued a lockdown notice for residents in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough due to smoke from a fire in a container storing 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries in the Port of Montreal.
Thousands of bones and hundreds of weapons reveal grisly insights into a 3,250-year-old battle
A new analysis of dozens of arrowheads is helping researchers piece together a clearer portrait of the warriors who clashed on Europe’s oldest known battlefield 3,250 years ago.