Dare To Dream: Desboro Rancher Lassoes $60 Million LOTTO MAX Jackpot

TORONTO, Feb. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - Just give Joan Patterson a home where her animals roam and this Desboro rancher is one happy cowgirl. That 'happiness level' MAXED out last week when Joan suddenly realized she had won the $60 million jackpot in the February 5, 2016 LOTTO MAX draw.

"I bought my ticket then went on holiday and never gave it a thought," smiled Joan while she and husband Jim were at the OLG Prize Centre to claim the windfall. "I love horses and this was a riding vacation in Arizona."

Twelve days after the LOTTO MAX draw, Joan finally checked her ticket. "Jim and I were having coffee at the mall and I turned to him and joked – I'm going to go and see about my $60 million ticket," she laughed. "I walked up to the kiosk, slipped the ticket into the ticket checker, saw the words 'big winner' and just stared at all those zeros. I whispered to myself – I DID win it. The mall was pretty quiet so I handed the ticket to the girl at the counter. When she saw the prize amount, her eyes widened and she put her hands up to her mouth. I leaned over the counter and told her – please don't say a word."

Joan told her husband right away. "Jim thought I was kidding until he saw the look on my face," she said. "Later at home, we laughed and hugged then went back to work. We run a small ranch and there were animals to feed." Joan and Jim have five horses, three miniature donkeys named Rose, Daphne and Benjamin, plus Penny the mule, three dogs and two cats.

"My dream right now is to re-fence the ranch," said Joan. But this cowgirl is already eyeing something with a very different kind of horsepower. "I would love a silver Corvette convertible," she beamed.

Joan knows what Jim's dream is too. "He wants an RV with all the bells and whistles so we can head out on our next great adventure – maybe a trip west and go where other cowboys go."

Since its launch in September 2009, Ontario LOTTO MAX players have won over $2.9 billion, including 44 jackpot wins and 306 MAXMILLIONS prizes, right across the province.

The winning ticket was purchased at Grant's Your Independent Grocer in Hanover.

OLG is a provincial agency responsible for gaming facilities, the sale of province-wide lottery games, the PlayOLG Internet gaming website and the delivery of bingo and other electronic gaming products at Charitable Gaming Centres across the province. Since 1975, OLG has provided nearly $42 billion to the Province and the people of Ontario. OLG's annual payments to the province have helped support the operation of hospitals; prevention, treatment and research of problem gambling; amateur sport through the Quest for Gold program; and local and provincial charities. OLG was a Premier Sponsor of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am / Parapan Am Games.

All for Here - 100 per cent of OLG's proceeds are invested in Ontario
olg.ca
Follow on Twitter @OLGtoday

PlaySmart.ca 
"Know your limit. Play within it."
Follow on Twitter @PlaySmartOLG

THE ONTARIO PROBLEM GAMBLING HELPLINE 1-888-230-3505

Disponible en français

SOURCE OLG Winners

Image with caption: "OLG's Vice President of Lottery Marketing and Sales Wendy Montgomery presents Desboro resident Joan Patterson with a cheque for $60,000,000 at the OLG Prize Centre Wednesday. Joan won the February 5, 2016 LOTTO MAX jackpot. (CNW Group/OLG Winners)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160224_C7552_PHOTO_EN_628369.jpg

OLG MEDIA RELATIONS, 1-888-946-6716