Fortunate St. Catherine man have various plans for his winnings

Playing the lottery finally paid off for Paul Vanblaricum. The St. Catharines man, who works as a courier, matched the last six of seven Encore numbers to win $100,000 in the Lottario draw last Nov. 19.

“I asked my sister to scan my ticket and she said, ‘Great, you won $100,’ ” Vanblaricum said while picking up his winnings at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto.

“I said, ‘This isn’t $100, it’s $100,000!’ We couldn’t believe it. I did a bit of a happy dance after verifying the ticket.

I was so giddy!” When Vanblaricum told his coworkers, he said they were all happy for him. “They all said drinks are on me,” he said with a laugh.

The winner has only 180 days from the day of the lottery draw to claim the winning prize money.