Toronto, ON – Douglas Schaffer and Julie Balite of Thornhill are celebrating after winning a $250,000 top prize with INSTANT CROSSWORD DELUXE (Game #3353).

Douglas and Julie have been married for eight years and they have been playing the lottery together ever since. They love to play INSTANT CROSSWORD and are now celebrating their first big win!

While Douglas was the one who purchased their ticket, it was Julie who had the thrill of revealing their prize. “I always scratch the letters first. One by one, I was counting the words. I was thinking, ‘One word…two words…Doug will be so happy.’ At some point, I just stopped counting and scratched them all,” Julie recounted, while visiting the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up their winnings. “I didn’t think twice when I took my phone out to scan our ticket on the OLG app to see the prize amount.”

“I stood there, staring at my phone in shock. Douglas was on a call, so I started waving my hands to get his attention. When he didn’t look up at me, I started jumping up and down,” Julie laughed. “He finally came over and I showed him what we had won.”

“When I saw her jumping, I thought she had won like $40,” Douglas chuckled. “When I saw the amount, I kept saying, ‘What?’ I was shocked too! Winning feels awesome, although you sort of keep questioning if it is really happening.”

With their windfall, Douglas and Julie look forward to planning a trip to the Maritimes and investing.

INSTANT CROSSWORD DELUXE is available for $10 a play and the top prize is $250,000. Odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.46.

The winning ticket was purchased at Petro Canada on Rutherford Road in Thornhill.

OLG supports safe play and wants to keep the fun in the game. That’s why OLG is proud to be a leader in promoting responsible gambling with our globally recognized PlaySmart program.

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OLG is a crown agency that contributes to a better Ontario by delivering great entertainment experiences for our customers. Acting in a socially responsible way, OLG conducts and manages land-based gaming facilities; the sale of province-wide lottery games; Internet gaming; and the delivery of bingo and other electronic gaming products at Charitable Gaming Centres. OLG is also helping support the horse racing industry in Ontario. Since 1975, OLG has generated approximately $59 billion to the people and Province of Ontario to support key government priorities like health care; the treatment and prevention of problem gambling; and support for amateur athletes. Each year profits from OLG's operations also support host communities, Ontario First Nations, lottery retailers and local charities across the province.

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