One lucky lottery player from Toronto is still in disbelief after winning a humongous jackpot — a whopping $55 million.
Nishit Parikh, 30, bought a ticket at a Petro Canada location in Scarborough, just an hour before the Lotto Max draw on August 5 closed.
As he often did, Parikh played his own numbers, comprising important family dates. However, it was one of the additional auto-generated Lotto Max lines of numbers that changed his life with a mind-blowing win.
“The next day, I heard on the news that someone in Toronto had won and of course hoped it was me,” he shared while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. “I’m pretty sure I will be checking my bank account a lot to see that amount of money in there. It’s still so unbelievable!”
OLG
When the professional project manager checked his ticket on the OLG app, he saw a screen that read “BIG WINNER.”
“I was looking at the zeroes, squinting my eyes to do a double take,” he revealed, adding that he didn’t believe it at first. “I think my brain shut down – I was trying to process what was happening.”
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It was only when Parikh’s dad took a look at the app and verified that he had, in fact, won the jackpot that reality began to set in. His father used his own phone to scan the ticket in case Parikh thought it was a glitch.
“I was overcome with joy. I thought to myself, now I can finally afford a house in Toronto,” he shared, laughing. “I told my close family on a video chat, and they guessed what happened. They were ecstatic for me.”
Like a responsible winner, Parikh has already sought professional advice to figure out what he should do with the $55 million lottery jackpot. He’s decided to make some real estate investments and wants to be smart with his stash of cash, opting to live a “normal and low-key” life.
But he also consulted his heart: “My parents made so many sacrifices for me to succeed,” said the grateful son. “Now I can take care of them the way they deserve.”
Parikh hopes to travel across South America and enjoy its scenery.
“This win gives me freedom and opportunity to spread my wings and see the world,” he concluded.