‘Ride out the excitement’; Welland dad and granddad savours $100,000 lottery win

A Welland father and grandfather had the thrill of a lifetime when he won the $100,000 top price with OLG’s Instant Block-0.

Gary Keay, who says he has been a regular lottery player for many years, won on a ticket he purchased at the Canadian National Insitute for the Blind (CNIB) kiosk in Walmart on Primeway Drive in Welland.

“I like to play all the games for the entertainment value,” Keay says. “I won $20 on a previous ticket and used that to purchase another two.

“When I played the ticket and saw the amount, I couldn’t believe it. I went to the store right away to make sure it was real.”

Instant Block-0, game 2298, is available at all OLG-licensed retailers for $5 and the top prize is $100,000. Odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.77. Keay relates that seeing ‘Big Winner’ appear on the ticket checker made the six-figure score seem real

“I started shaking,” he says. “It was unbelievable at first, then the happiness and excitement took over. I can’t find the right words to express how I feel other than, ‘Wow!’ ”

Keay adds that he will not make any hasty decisions about how to enjoy the win and share it with family and friends.

“I’ll ride out the excitement and figure out next steps when cooler heads prevail,” he says.

OLG is booking in-person prize claim appointments at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. It strongly encourages those with claims between $1,000 and $49,999.90 to submit them online or mail them, as appointment availability at this prize level is limited. Customers with prizes over $50,000 are asked to call 1-800-387-0098 to discuss available prize claim options

OLG is a crown agency that contributes to a better Ontario by delivering great entertainment experiences for our customers. Acting in a socially responsible way, OLG conducts and manages land-based gaming facilities; the sale of province-wide lottery games; Internet gaming; and the delivery of bingo and other electronic gaming products at Charitable Gaming Centre.

(Cover photo courtesy of OLG.)