Brampton, Ont., man feeling ‘very, very blessed’ after winning $70M Lotto Max jackpot

A Brampton, Ont., man says he is feeling “very, very blessed” after winning the largest lottery prize in Canadian history.

Adlin Lewis, 49, a married credit risk manager, says winning the Lotto Max jackpot a week ago was shocking, but he still went to work the day he found out.

Lewis picked up his cheque for $70 million on Monday in Toronto. He was all smiles while holding the oversized cheque.

“I’m overwhelmed, excited, happy and shocked but mostly, I feel very, very blessed,” Lewis said in a news release from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) Corp. on Tuesday.

“We have a lot of options now. I’ll be making some investments, taking many trips, enjoying life. Also, my wife has always wanted to try those VIP $100 slots in Las Vegas and now I can make that dream come true for her.”

Lewis said he checked his ticket the morning after the draw a week ago while he was warming up his car.

Lewis scanned his ticket with the OLG app, got an error message and tried again. When he saw the words “big winner” and the number 70, he went online to check the winning numbers one by one.

Then, at work, he thought about how to break the news to his wife.

“I wanted to tell her in a special way — with a trip or something creative — but I couldn’t keep this news to myself, so I ended up waking her up in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday and just telling her outright,” he said.

According to the OLG, Lewis has a reputation for being lucky. Two years ago, he won a car, and more recently, he won the first and second prizes in a workplace holiday draw.

“When my colleagues found out that the winning $70 million Lotto Max ticket was sold in Brampton, they were joking at the office ‘Is Adlin here? Did Adlin call in sick today?'” he said.

Lewis, who has played the lottery regularly for more than 20 years, bought the winning ticket at George’s Convenience on Mississauga Road in Brampton.

CBC