Casual lottery player becomes father of two and millionaire in one day
By Kate Northrop
BROCKVILLE, Canada — A data analyst became a father of two and a millionaire in one day after he bought a $1 million (US$747,045) winning lottery ticket while his wife waited at the hospital with their newborn.
A Canadian man decided to buy some lottery tickets at a nearby retailer while his wife and newborn waited to leave the hospital, and it resulted in a $1 million prize.
Ian Dupre, 37, and his wife left the hospital with a million dollars and one more family member on Jan. 4, 2024.
"I drove my wife to the next town over to have our baby," Dupre told the Ontario Lottery when he visited to collect his winnings. "After the baby was born, I decided to pick up some tickets while we were waiting to leave the hospital. I saw the 'Ultimate' ticket and figured I would try my luck."
He had bought the ticket at Quickie Pearl on William Street in Brockville, a 13-minute walk down the road from the Brockville General Hospital.
"$100 Ultimate" is a $100 ticket that offers instant prizes of up to $100,000, and each ticket was eligible for a chance to win one of 40 $1 million prizes drawn on Jan. 4, 2024. Dupre's ticket won one of those million-dollar prizes.
"Sure enough, I checked my ticket after the draw and saw I won $1 million — I was in complete disbelief!" Dupre continued.
Since he doesn't play the lottery regularly, the Ontario man was in for quite the shock. He went back to the hospital to share news of the win with his wife, who was just as stunned.
"The first person I told was my wife, and she couldn't believe it," he recalled.
The family says the winnings will help them catch up on some bills, and they'll invest a portion of the prize as well.
Players holding a "$100 Ultimate" ticket can check the winnings numbers for the Jan. 4, 2024 drawing on the official Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) website. There are 40 total winning tickets of $1 million.
According to the Lottery, tickets for the "$100 Ultimate" instant game are no longer available for purchase following the draw. Tickets were available to players from Oct. 2, 2023 to Jan. 4, 2024, or until quantities lasted.
The odds of winning a $1 million prize from the draw were 1 in 25,000, which had provided the most favorable odds of winning a $1 million prize offered by OLG. The overall odds of winning any of the instant prizes were 1 in 3.55.
Oh and the best part about this story, unlike in the "free and great" USA, he's getting the exact amount. No taxes and no falsely advertised prize. What he won is what he gets, as it should be and is in pretty much every country on earth.
Part of story that put a big smile on my face is his occupation as a data analyst. Maybe I'm prejudging him, doesn't matter, just don't associate like that playing the lottery. The best part of the story was the birth of their child and CD 1 Million.
happy story. betcha they changed the baby's middle name to lotto.
Thank goodness it wasn't Dlotto.
Congrats to the lucky family, healthy baby and diaper money.
Totally agreed. No taxes no the so called advertised amount that make people sicks...
The expected value from just the $1 million dollar drawing is $40. If we had the odds for the instant prizes, we could compute the overall expected value. Depending on the instant prize odds, that could be a very high payout percentage Lotto. If so, good on the Ontario Lottery. A high payout percentage, which is good for the players, is rarely seen in the US.
Always a story to lottery so you'll play more
I wonder if $100 scratch offs are common place in Canada. In the US, Texas is the only state that sells $100 scratch offs.
no they are not, that was the first ever $100 scratch off!