Manufacturing worker ready for a family trip to India after winning the lottery
After 18 years of testing her luck with the lottery, Saroj Prajapati finally won a big prize.
The Pickering, Ontario, resident is celebrating a windfall of $100,000, the top prize in an Instant Crossword Tripler game.
“This is my first big win. I had a few small winning tickets that I cashed in for this ticket,” a smiling Prajapati shared while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. She was visiting to pick up her prize money and reveal her plans.
Spending an ordinary day at home watching TV, the manufacturing worker opened the OLG mobile app to scan the ticket she’d bought at a Petro Canada location in Scarborough. What she saw left her jaw on the floor.
“I didn’t believe it. I went to the store to double-check, and the lottery terminal played a different sound,” Prajapati recalled. “The customer behind me started dancing in celebration! I was shocked – I had no idea what was going on!”
In disbelief and excitement, Prajapati went home to tell her husband their lives were about to change.
“I gave him a hug with tears in my eyes and showed him the slip from the store. I was nervous, shocked and overwhelmed with disbelief,” she shared.
The $100,000 will help Prajapati pay off some bills. She also plans to make an international trip to see her family.
“I’ve been wanting to go back home to India to visit my family. I am so happy and excited. I feel so thankful,” she concluded.
Family comes first for a lot of Canadian lottery winners.
Recently, a 39-year-old man from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, won a million dollars playing the lottery by playing numbers from an old ticket his dad bought.
Just a week shy of Christmas, Donald (Don) MacMillan matched all seven Encore numbers in the exact order in a Lotto Max draw and became a millionaire.
MacMillan’s dad had bought a ticket with the lucky numbers over 15 years ago for Super 7, a game that has been retired since September 2009.
“This win is all about my family. I’m blessed to have them and blessed to have this win,” he said.
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