A grocery store in a small Ontario village found itself in the spotlight after selling a $70 million winning lottery ticket.
Sometime in February, Lakefield couple Doug and Enid Hannon were on their way to their cottage when they stopped at a store in Kinmount, a tiny village of around 500 people. While there, Enid purchased a Lotto Max ticket.
The draw took place on February 20, and although Enid bought the ticket, Doug made the life-changing discovery when he scanned their ticket.
“My heart was pounding,” recalled Doug. “I had to stare at it for a while and process all those zeroes.”
The retiree waited until his wife was home from work to share the news: they were now $70 million richer.
Doug and Enid Hannon (OLG)
But the couple decided to keep it a secret.
Before coming forward to claim their prize, they sought legal and financial advice and made plans for the money.
It took the couple two months to claim their winnings, and during that time, one retailer suspected that his store sold the lucky ticket.
“We were pretty confident it was our store,” Yashwanth “Yash” Putta told Daily Hive. “We don’t know why, but we all got the feeling.”
And he was right.
Yaswanth Putta (OLG)
Putta recalled how he and his family were on their way to New Brunswick when he “got a call from the OLG people.”
He said one of their employees had sold the ticket to Enid at Kinmount Independent Grocer, a local store that Putta co-owns with his brother-in-law and the Shop ‘N Save Convenience across the street.
Putta expects their stores to get busier during cottage season when customers stop for essentials on their way to cottages further north.
According to Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) spokesperson Tony Bitonti, the store will receive $2,000 for selling the winning ticket. He also added that while retailers might get more in bonuses for selling a winning ticket, OLG retailers have “the highest blended retailer commission rate in all of Canada.”
Bonuses certainly differ by region. In New Brunswick, one woman and her daughter became $640,000 richer after selling the winning $64 million in 2023. Atlantic Lottery retailers in the region receive a 1% bonus on the winning ticket.
OLG hosted a barbecue outside the store to celebrate the community and the retailer.
A barbecue hosted by OLG (OLG)
“We wanted to give a little love to the retailers there, and we’ve done a few of these little celebrations,” said Bitonti.
“This was a perfect opportunity, not just to celebrate the retailer, but to involve the community.”
OLG
Bitonti said drinks, hotdogs, pasta, potato salad, and pasta salad were served as a DJ played music. An OLG sales crew also gave out free Lotto Max vouchers.
Laurie Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, was in attendance. Scott was born and raised in Kinmount, and her family owned Kinmount Independent Grocer from the 1950s to the 1990s. Scott said she also worked in the store as a teenager.
MPP Laurie Scott MPP, Yaswanth Putta, and Nicole Monks, OLG’s senior manager of field sales (OLG)
“It was really amazing,” said Putta, who also received a large banner for his store stating, “$70 million winning ticket sold here.”
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