A Scarborough, Ont., woman says she can retire and \u201cfinally enjoy the little things in life\u201d after recently finding a lottery ticket she left in her bag and discovering it was a $1 million winner. <\/p>\n
The winning ticket was drawn on May 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Laurie M., 62, says she has played OLG lottery games twice a week for about 25 years but only discovered the win after remembering a ticket she had left sitting in her bag for several days.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the store clerk was scanning my ticket, I said, \u2018I think I won three Free Plays.\u2019 The clerk looked at me and said, \u2018Ma\u2019am, you won more than just three Free Plays!\u2019 That\u2019s when she told me I had won $1 million. I immediately started shaking, and I think my heart nearly stopped,\u201d she said in a news release.<\/p>\n
\u2018Tears of pure happiness\u2019<\/p>\n
Laurie added that the realization left her overwhelmed and crying tears of happiness. <\/p>\n
\u201cI began crying tears of pure happiness. Even during the ride home, I couldn\u2019t process that I had just become a lottery winner. It was one of the most overwhelming, emotional, and unforgettable moments of my life. I still have goosebumps thinking back to that initial moment,\u201d she told officials.<\/p>\n
She said family and friends initially thought she was joking when she shared the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of them thought I was joking at first because the news was so unbelievable. I said, \u2018Trust me \u2014 I can\u2019t believe it either!\u2019” she said. <\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m already planning a trip\u2019<\/p>\n
Laurie says she plans to use part of her winnings to travel, beginning with a trip to London and, eventually, Scotland and other destinations across Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m already planning a trip to London. After that, I\u2019d love to visit Scotland \u2014 it\u2019s been a dream destination of mine for years. I hope to explore more of Europe as well and take my time experiencing different cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win, she says, will also allow her to retire and focus on interests she previously did not have time to pursue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis win means I can retire and finally enjoy the little things in life. I\u2019m looking forward to having more time for hobbies, spending time with loved ones, and living life at a slower pace,\u201d she said, adding that one of those hobbies is painting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been many painting classes I\u2019ve wanted to take over the years, but they were always during my work hours. Now, I can sign up and enjoy something I\u2019ve always wanted to do. I feel incredibly fortunate, grateful, and excited for what the future holds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lotto 6\/49\u2019s Classic Draw offers a fixed $5 million jackpot, while the Gold Ball Draw guarantees a $1 million prize or the growing jackpot, which starts at $10 million and can exceed $60 million. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Scarborough, Ont., woman says she can retire and \u201cfinally enjoy the little things in life\u201d after recently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":["post-748016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}