Local man wins $1 million on Lotto Max

April 1, 2017 · 0 Comments

By Michelle Janzen

Mulmur resident Paul Downey has collected $1 million in winnings after finding a Lotto Max Encore lottery ticket that had been sitting on his shelf since December 21, 2016.

After purchasing a Lotto Max ticket at the Masonville Corner Store in Melancthon when the big draw was at 60 million, Paul Downey placed it on a shelf, with some other scratch tickets at home and forgot about it.

The Mulmur resident didn’t see the lottery ticket again until reaching for some paperwork on that shelf recently and decided to check it at Mr. Kim’s convenience store in Shelburne.

“When they put my ticket through the machine it shut the machine right down, there were no bells and whistles going off like when you win a free ticket or ten dollars,” says Downey. “Mr. Kim himself, had to call the Ontario Lottery Gaming (OLG) Commission to find out what was going on. When it finally printed off the winning Mr. Kim laid it across the counter and I was amazed. There were so many zeroes.”

Upon exiting the store and getting into his truck where his wife and son were waiting, he tells us he tried to play it cool and tell them about a free ticket he had won, but couldn’t contain his excitement.

With no immediate plans for his windfall, Downey tells the Free Press in a telephone interview that he plans to pay off some bills and do some renovations at home.

Until then, it is business as usual for the owner of Paul Downey Electric who was on a job site while being interviewed.

“It was the luck of the draw and I’m so grateful and happy,” Downey said.

Encore can be played in conjunction with most online lottery games for an extra $1. With an Encore draw every day.