September email ignored but $100,000 lottery win still sweet for Ontario man

Six months after he was told he had won something and six months after ignoring the message from OLG thinking the prize wasn’t worth bothering about, a Whitby man discovered he’d won $100,000.

Anthony Stockley, who works in financial technology, received an email from OLG in September confirming he had a prize to claim.

“I figured it was a small $10 win, so I didn’t give it much thought,” he said while visiting the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up his winnings. “Cut to six months later: I was reviewing my OLG.ca account and saw there was a $100,000 prize that I had yet to claim. I quickly checked the winning numbers for the September 10th draw and revisited my emails, only to be left in disbelief!”

Stockley, who has been playing the lottery with OLG weekly for nearly 25 years, had matched the last six of seven ENCORE numbers in exact order in the September 10 LOTTO MAX draw to win $100,000.

He called his wife right away to share the news. “She was just as shocked as I was, saying, ‘OMG! No way!’ I sent her all the screenshots I’d taken, and when she got home from work, we did a little happy dance in our dining room,” he said. “Winning is the best feeling ever. You always play with the hope that one day you’ll win, but when you do, it’s unbelievable. I’m so happy to be here today.”

Stockley typically buys a $20 mega pack with ENCORE (two LOTTO MAX tickets, two LOTTO 6.49 tickets and one ONTARIO 49 ticket) through his OLG.ca account. This is his first big win and he already has plans underway to travel and buy some new furniture.

ENCORE offers 22 ways to win and can be played in conjunction with most lottery games for an extra $1. There are two draws every day.

The winning ticket was purchased on OLG.ca.