A recently retired Woodbridge, Ont. mechanic is now $50 million richer after winning a Lotto Max jackpot, the largest single-ticket prize in Ontario lottery history.
Franco Varone, 73, told CTV News on Tuesday he wants to buy houses for his six children with the money.
His winning ticket was sold on Oct. 7 in Woodbridge, a suburb north of Toronto.
Varone said he broke the news to his family on Thanksgiving weekend because he wanted to take time to think and recheck the numbers.
When he first checked his ticket in a store while out on a shopping trip with his wife of 49 years, Varone thought he had won $6,000.
But after examining his ticket more closely in the car, he realized he had hit the jackpot by matching all seven numbers.
Varone retired in late September, just four weeks ago. He said he has played lottery games for about four decades and always used the same numbers for Lotto Max.
Varone said in a news release he is considering a trip with the entire family.
It was the fourth such winning ticket sold in the Greater Toronto Area in 2011.
In late September, Toronto teacher Craig Henshaw picked up his $21-million prize that he had actually purchased in July, with the draw date being July 8. His excuse was that he'd left on a trip to Europe.
"I didn't know I had $21 million sitting on my fridge at home," he said on Sept. 27, referring to where he stuck the ticket. "I wouldn't be living out of a backpack if I knew (about the money)."
Three bakers hit the jackpot in March, winning $16.6 million each.
There were two other group wins. A group of Bell Canada workers won the prize, as did a group of Bombardier employees later on.
Both groups were challenged by other employees, claiming they had been wrongfully excluded from the prize money.
