Toronto lottery player's huge six-figure win literally froze OLG terminal

A 27-year-old Toronto resident was initially confused when his lottery scratch ticket froze an OLG terminal.

What happened next took him some time to process.

The Etobicoke resident, known only as Alex B., was about to be hit with the reality that he had won a six-figure prize on a $10 scratch card.

According to the OLG, Alex B. purchased the Bigger Spin Scratch game at a Circle K on East Liberty Street in Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood. A relative newcomer to lottery tickets, Alex said he really had no idea what was about to happen when scanning his ticket.

"I took my ticket to the store, and when the clerk scanned it, the terminal froze. I didn't know what that meant at first," he said. "After learning I'd won a live event, it took a while for me to believe it was real."

"I immediately called my girlfriend and told her I'd won a lot of money, but she didn't believe me at first either. Neither of us was sure it was real. Once it finally sank in, we queued up a playlist and had a little dance party."

Alex won a chance to spin the Wheel-of-Fortune-inspired wheel at the OLG Prize Centre in downtown Toronto, where he ended up landing $800,000. Alex was reportedly grinning from ear to ear at the time of the event and said, "I'm feeling ecstatic to be here."

Now $800K richer, Alex is keeping his plans pretty reasonable to start out, saying his first order of business is picking up a new pair of shoes, paying off some bills, and investing. He also plans to take his family on a trip to Greece, saying, "We're going to relax and do a whole lot of nothing."

Alex says the big win "gives me the opportunity to build a future for myself and my family" and that he feels "like I'm living in a dream."

However, for most lottery players, this scenario will remain exactly that — a dream —  as the odds of living out a story like Alex's are astronomically low. 

According to the OLG, while the odds of winning a prize in general come in at 1 in 3.63, the odds of earning a Bigger Spin win with a guaranteed large payout are a much, much lower 1 in 799,400. From there, those odds of winning the $800K prize Alex took home fall to another 1 in 10.

Meanwhile, the odds of being struck by lightning in Canada are not far off, coming in at 1 in 1,000,000, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.