Best friend’s suggested numbers lead to big lotto win for Mississauga man

Asim Riaz has many reasons — more than 340,000, in fact — to be thankful he took his best friend’s advice.

The 60-year-old Mississauga man is $342,249 richer after using numbers suggested by his friend to play the Lotto 6/49 draw on Sept. 16. His ticket won second prize.

“My best friend suggested these numbers. She loves math and probability, so she does her own math and comes up with these numbers,” Riaz shared while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up his winnings.

Riaz, who regularly plays Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max and Lottario, added that it was also his friend who shared the big news with him.

“Since she chose the numbers, she had them memorized and called me at midnight. I was worried when she called because she normally goes to bed early,” he said. “When I picked up, I was panicking until she told me I had the winning numbers. I was shocked.”

The big winner said that after a sleepless night, he called OLG the following day to confirm his good fortune.

That’s when it really hit him, he added.

“It’s a really good feeling. It happened at a perfect time; this is truly a blessing,” Riaz said. “I can tell others that real people really do win the lottery.”

Riaz said he plans to pay bills with his winnings.

The winning ticket was purchased at County Court Convenience, on County Court Boulevard in Brampton.