NEWS RELEASE
ONTARIO LOTTERY AND GAMING CORPORATION
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Toronto, ON – Antonietta (Nina) Di Maria Perez Vega from Wasaga Beach is celebrating after winning $71,969 from the June 14, 2017 LOTTO 6/49 draw. She matched five numbers plus the bonus number to win a secondary prize.
“I love to play the lottery when the jackpot is high,” shared Nina while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. “For this draw, the jackpot was $22 million so I bought one ticket and one ticket was all I needed.”
After purchasing her ticket, Nina put her ticket in the glove compartment of her car and forgot about it. “I never really thought to check it until I went looking for my wallet. I saw the ticket and thought I will scan it quickly and just toss it away.” Nina went to the store and used the ticket checker. “I thought there was a mistake or an advertisement. So I scanned the ticket five times before asking the retailer to validate it.”
The retailer was in disbelief too. “She said, ‘Oh my Gosh, you’re a big winner!’ I still didn’t believe it and asked her to check it again. When OLG called the store to confirm my win, I nearly fainted. I could hardly catch my breath.”
Nina is a busy mom of four. “They range in age from three months to sixteen years. My oldest son and daughter were with me when I found out about my win and they too couldn’t believe it.
Plans are underway for Nina’s windfall. “With four children, I definitely need a ‘Me day.’ I would also love a vacation but I will settle for a spa day – just time for myself. I would also like to take a portion of this win and invest it in my family business. My husband and I own a construction company and we have big plans for growing it. Winning the lottery is unbelievable. We work so hard for everything we have and to suddenly win this money is a dream come true,” Nina concluded.
Since LOTTO 6/49 was launched in June 1982, there has been a total of 3,455 LOTTO 6/49 draws with Ontario players having won more than $11.4 billion in prizes, including 1,341 jackpot wins. There have been 435 Guaranteed $1 Million Prize draws to date. One hundred and ninety-four of the winning tickets have been sold in Ontario. For more information, please visit olg.ca and click on Lotteries.
The winning ticket was purchased at Mac’s on Mosley Street in Wasaga Beach.
