"We were shocked to see I won that much": Sports fan wins lottery

One lucky sports fan not only got to celebrate his team’s victory but also ended up winning far more in the lottery than he had expected.

Gregorio (Greg) Cardelli, 56, a King City resident, is a regular lottery player. However, the sports fan said that he always chooses to play Proline, a game with a $5 wager, which lets people bet on their favourite team.

“I only play football games,” he explained. “I come from a football family.”

Cardelli found himself glued to the game, which turned out to be a real nail-biter.

“We were watching the nerve-wracking game and it came down to the last second,” he recalled. “I knew I had won right away – my family erupted in cheers!”

Gregorio (Greg) Cardelli/OLG

Although Cardelli knew that he’d won, he wasn’t quite sure exactly how much. The retail worker said that he had been asleep when his family woke him up, no doubt excited after discovering that he had won far more than they had expected.

Cardelli woke up to some pretty amazing news: he had won $122,846.30.

“We were shocked to see I won that much. We went crazy,” he said while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up his cheque. “My family started their wish lists.”

Cardelli already has plans for his winnings: he’s going on a vacation to Italy with the entire family.

“It feels really good,” he said.

The winning ticket was purchased at Fountain Esso on King Road in King City, Ontario.