Noel Patricio of Toronto can “find his possible” after winning a LOTTO 6/49 prize worth $68 million in the Gold Ball Draw on September 27, 2023.
However, it’s not every day you hear of a multimillion-dollar lottery winner who wants to continue working! While at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up his massive windfall, Noel, who works in the field of housekeeping, explained, “I love the work I do and the people I work with, and that’s makes my two jobs so meaningful to me. I want to be the same Noel.”
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Noel, who is celebrating a birthday this week, is a regular LOTTO 6/49 player and purchased this ticket while on a break during work. Upon hearing that the $68 million record-breaking LOTTO 6/49 Gold Ball jackpot winning ticket was sold in Toronto, he remembered about the ticket he had in his pocket.
“I checked my ticket on the OLG app and saw the Big Winner screen appear. I thought I won $68,000 and called my sister to tell her what I won,” he recalled. “She asked me to count the zeroes, and I told her there were six of them. That’s when she corrected me and said, ‘That’s $68 million!’ I was in shock, but I knew I still had work to do, so I snuck into the bathroom to keep checking the winning numbers with my sister still on the phone.”
Throughout his workday, Noel kept going into the bathroom and scanning his ticket again and again to make sure the ‘Big Winner’ message was still there. “All I could think was, is this a joke? Is this real? Will I wake up from this dream?” he recounted. “I finished my first job and checked my ticket several more times between my next shift – it was so unbelievable. Then I suddenly became so concerned on where to put this ticket to keep it safe!”
Overwhelmed with this enormous prize, Noel decided to take his time before heading to the OLG Prize Centre. But he really didn’t think of the irony of someone named ‘Noel’ claiming this massive lottery prize during the holiday season. “I needed to make sure I had everything in place before accepting this prize. I kept this news to myself and with my immediate family. When my colleagues would talk about the winning ticket sold in Toronto, I would stay quiet. It was too unbelievable to say, ‘It’s me!’”
Noel loves the community he lives in, so he plans to renovate his current home that he purchased a few years ago while working two jobs. “I also want to take my sisters on a dream vacation to Italy and I will make more time for myself and work a little bit less, but still keep my job.” Noel also wants to make some of his sports dreams come true. “I am a fan of professional tennis, so I’ll probably travel to see Rafael Nadal play live. And I would also like to get myself seasons tickets to the Toronto Raptors.
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“I came to Canada with one suitcase and a few dollars – it’s unbelievable to think I am here as the Gold Ball Jackpot winner! I am ready to settle into my excitement and live an exciting life,” he concluded.
The winning ticket was purchased at Hasty Market on Church Street in Toronto.
LOTTO 6/49 offers players a chance to win two multi-million dollar jackpots every Wednesday and Saturday, for the same $3 per play.
The Classic Draw offers a fixed $5 million jackpot for every draw, while the Gold Ball Draw guarantees a $1 million prize, or the growing jackpot that starts at $10 million and can exceed $60 million. Click here for more information about the new LOTTO 6/49.
OLG supports safe play and wants to keep the fun in the game. That’s why OLG is proud to be a leader in promoting responsible gambling with our globally recognized PlaySmart program.
This is a press release supplied by the OLG.
