Ontario man wins $1.4M lottery using the birthdays of his loved ones

Here's a potentially-lucrative life hack for remembering important dates: Use them when playing the lottery every week. Who knows? You might just get a seven-figure reward out of it.

Christopher Grenier of Penetanguishene, Ontario, is exactly $1,418,967.40 richer after winning the second prize in an Oct. 14 LOTTO MAX draw.

"I checked my ticket at the ticket checker, and I thought it was a joke," said the 41-year-old. "I called my work and told them I wasn't coming in and then went home and told my wife."

The winning ticket was purchased at Garrett's Convenience on Talbot Street in Port McNicoll, Ontario, according to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG.)

When picking up his prize at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto last week, Grenier told lottery officials that he plays LOTTO MAX once a week using some very specific numbers. 

"I play my own numbers," he said. "All family birthdays."

Those family members can likely expect generous gifts to celebrate their next trips around the sun, as well as a very nice dinner with loved ones sometime in the near future.

Grenier says that, in addition to taking his family out for dinner, he plans to buy a house with his lottery winnings.

"It's overwhelming," he said of his newfound riches. "But in a good way!" 

LOTTO MAX players in Ontario have won over $7.4 billion since 2009, including 95 jackpot wins and 841 MAXMILLIONS prizes, right across the province.