Crossword-loving grandma who thought she won $5,000 realized her lotto prize was actually a lot larger
A recent lottery winner excitedly told her daughter she was suddenly $5,000 richer. She was wrong.
Donna Tsakoza, a soon-to-be retiree who lives in the British Columbia First Nations community of Prophet River, won big with a scratch ticket. Bigger than she realized.
She bought a Luxury Crossword Scratch & Win ticket from a Petro Canada station, and was in her office when she started to scratch it.
She thought she'd matched 10 words, meaning she'd win $5,000, and let her daughter in on the news.
Then she realized there was one more match.
"I looked it over three times because I was hoping it wasn't a mistake," she said through a B.C. Lottery Corporation news release.
Matching 11 words entitles her to 20 times the prize she thought she'd won. Finding herself suddenly $100,000 richer, Tsakoza said she plans to buy a new vehicle as she heads into retirement.
She said she'll also give some of the prize to her granddaughter.
Patrick Lamour is seen in a photo from BCLC.
Another recent B.C. winner claimed an even larger prize. In fact, Patrick Lamour's Keno ticket prize is the largest ever awarded at a retail location in the province.
Lamour said he thought something was wrong with the machine that checks the tickets when it told him he'd won $400,052.50.
The Merritt resident who bought his winning ticket at a Shell station said he often plays with numbers taken from his children's birthdays, and has been buying Keno tickets about once a month over the last year.
He said he'll be taking his kids out to celebrate, and will gift them both part of his prize.
Lamour told BCLC he's not yet sure what he'll do with the rest.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.