Toronto, ON – Donald Zimak of Thunder Bay said yes to ENCORE (February 26, 2016 LOTTO MAX) and won $100,000. Donald matched six of seven winning numbers on his ENCORE selection.
“I had a few old tickets to check that date back to February,” shared Donald while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto where he picked up his winnings. “I grabbed them all and decided to head to the store.”
At the store, Donald and his wife scanned the tickets in the ticket checker. “I anticipated I would win a few dollars. Then we saw the words ‘Big Winner’ on the screen. I didn’t know what that meant so I kept scanning the other tickets.”
Donald asked the retailer to validate all his tickets. “I saved the ‘Big Winner’ ticket for last. That’s when the terminal froze!”
While waiting for the OLG to call the store, Donald ran into someone he knows. “It was our hygienist, in fact. I had an appointment booked for the following day. I was hoping to keep my win a secret but so much for that,” laughed Donald.
Still shocked, Donald and his wife left the store after speaking with the OLG. “We walked around the corner and just stared at each other. We then hugged and went straight home. We decided to keep our win a secret because our oldest daughter was in the midst of planning a wedding and we didn’t want to overshadow all the events around her special day. It wasn’t until the day after the wedding, in early July, that we finally shared the good news with our children.”
Donald says his windfall came at the perfect time. “We have a wedding to help pay for and we are very close with our daughters so we will be sharing with them. Winning the lottery still hasn’t sunk in. Even after all these months, it just doesn’t seem real. Mostly though I see this win as a very unexpected gift and I am incredibly grateful for it!” concluded Donald.
ENCORE can be played in conjunction with most online lottery games for an extra $1. There is an ENCORE draw every day.
The winning ticket was purchased at Shell on North Cumberland Street in Thunder Bay.
