Niagara Falls man, Fort Erie woman both win big with crossword lottery games

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Published May 11, 2023 at 11:08 am

A Niagara Falls man and Fort Erie woman have both won large jackpots with crossword-style lottery tickets.

Parwinderjit “Paul” Walia (shown above) of Niagara Falls collected a $350,000 prize with INSTANT CROSSWORD EXTREME while Deborah Mitchell of Fort Erie (shown below) also notched a $100,000 top prize with INSTANT CROSSWORD TRIPLER.

Walia, a husband and father of two who’s been playing the lottery for 25 years, was stunned when he scanned his ticket with the OLG app and discovered he had won big.

Of course, his kids didn’t believe him, he laughed, saying, “Dad, you must be lying.” When he took his ticket to the store to confirm, the machine instantly froze. “It was amazing!” Walia said.

Meanwhile, over in Fort Erie, Mitchell, a 44-year-old wife, mother, and grandmother, was playing some tickets she had accumulated and had a few small wins.

Then she scanned the barcode on her last ticket and the words “Big Winner” came across her phone screen. “I thought the app was broken,” she said. She scanned her ticket once more and saw the$100,000 she had won.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. When I went flying into my mom’s room, she thought something was wrong.” She said her mom and husband were both overjoyed to hear about her big win.

“This means so much. We will have an incredible increase in our quality of life,” she said.

Walia said he will pay off his mortgage and take a vacation soon but the first item on Mitchell’s list is a camping trip. “My family is my world – I am so excited for our future,” she concluded.

Walia bought his ticket at Hasty Market on Kenilworth Avenue in Hamilton while Mitchell got hers at Avondale on Gilmore Road in Fort Erie.

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