Patricia Tomlinson almost made a huge mistake before learning she had won a big lottery prize.
Tomlinson, a retiree from Thorold, Ontario, said she was checking Lotto Max numbers on the OLG website but saw that none of them matched the ones she chose on her ticket.
At the time, Tomlinson didn’t check the winning Encore number. She added that she “nearly threw out her ticket but thankfully [she] ended up holding on to it.”
Tomlinson went to the store to validate her ticket and that’s when she learned it was a good thing she kept it.
OLG
She saw the words Big Winner appear on the ticket machine and said she “couldn’t believe what [she] was seeing.”
It turns out she matched the last six of seven Encore numbers in the exact order to win $100,000.
“I was left numb and had to figure out where to put the ticket, for safe keeping,” she recounted in a press release.
When she first told her family about her big win, they thought she was joking until she had them look at the winning numbers.
“Like me, they just couldn’t believe it!”
Tomlinson doesn’t have many ideas about what she plans to do with her jackpot at the moment, but she wants to pay off some bills.
Other Canadians have also gone through a similar experience as Tomlinson when it comes to checking their lottery tickets.
Back in May, Ramon Fajardo kept his half-completed scratch lotto ticket on his prize, thinking he had only won $100.
Upon further inspection, he noticed there was another side of the ticket to scratch, and when he did, he found out he had won $100,000.
It seems like Fajardo won the $100 through one of the smaller games on the first page and had likely forgotten to scratch off the golden “$100K” section.
So, if you need another reason to check and keep your lottery tickets, let Tomlinson and Fajardo’s stories serve as good reminders!
All forms of gambling, including the lottery, involve risk and outcomes are based on chance. Individuals are strongly advised to gamble responsibly. If you are experiencing any signs of gambling-related issues, you can find resources here.