After 40 years, grandmother from Mississauga finally finds the right ticket

Doreen Rumbolt has a message for the many millions of people who try their luck in the lottery, but have yet to win.

“The winning tickets are out there. Never give up on the dream,” the Mississauga woman, a grandmother of four, said recently while collecting from Ontario lottery officials the $350,000 top prize she won playing Instant Crossword Extreme.

“This experience has felt absolutely fantastic,” she added on the day she scooped up her big cheque at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) prize centre in Toronto.

Rumbolt knows a thing or two about patience, saying she’s played the lottery with OLG for some 40 years. Like many, if not all lotto winners, she said she was shocked when she finally won big.

“I was playing my ticket at home when I discovered I’d won,” she recalled. “Immediately, I felt numb and my mind went blank. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t been that excited about anything in years.

“I first shared the news with my best friend,” Rumbolt continued. “With a look of shock, all she could say was, ‘Really? OMG, Doreen!’ I think she may have been happier than I was.”

With her windfall, Rumbolt says she plans to have some dental work done, share with her family and save for her retirement.

The winning ticket was purchased at Petro-Canada, on Goreway Drive in Mississauga.

(Cover photo: OLG)