Northern Ontario residents take home hundreds of thousands of dollars in lottery wins
Residents in Sault Ste. Marie, Garden River and Greater Sudbury recently won big prizes, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. announced Thursday.
The biggest winner is Michael LeBlanc of the Sault, who won $293,497 in the Lightning Lotto jackpot Sept. 2.
LeBlanc, 74, who is retired from the construction industry, is a regular lottery player who has been playing the same numbers on games such as Lotto 6/49 for more than 30 years.
“I had asked for Lightning Lotto, when all of sudden the ‘Big Winner’ screen popped up," he said in an OLG news release.
"I didn’t know how much I won right away but when I saw how much the jackpot was, I went from shock to elation and back to shock!”
He described the surprise celebration he had with his wife.
“I bought some local smoked whitefish and a bottle of bubbly on my way home and when I got in, I told my wife, ‘We didn’t win Lotto 6/49 but we did win this," he said. "She was surprised and overjoyed.”
LeBlanc plans to buy a new car and save some money for a trip to Canada’s East Coast. But a new idea for a purchase came after spending a night at a Toronto hotel.
“We decided to buy a new mattress after having a wonderful night’s sleep at the hotel,” he said.
The winning ticket was purchased at R & B Lottery on Queen St. in Sault Ste. Marie.
In Garden River, Joseph Pichette won $100,000 with Instant Bingo Multiplier.
The winning ticket was purchased at Rankin Confectionary on Frontenac Street in Sault Ste. Marie.
And Sudbury's Joseph Landry and Lynn Levac matched the last six of seven Encore numbers in exact order in the June 29 Lotto Max draw to win $100,000.
The winning ticket was purchased at Pioneer Snack Express on Falconbridge Road in Sudbury.
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