Meet 24 new millionaires from Immigration Canada

OLG NEWS RELEASE

************************* Group of 24 share $24 million - Immigration Canada co-workers celebrate LOTTO 6/49 jackpot win

TORONTO - (June 17) - Monday, June 15, 2009 is not a day Avelino Da-Silva will soon forget. It was on this day, he shared the good news with 23 of his co-workers that they had all become millionaires overnight.

The group of 24 co-workers from Immigration Canada in Toronto, picked up $24,202,160 from Saturday's Lotto 6/49 June 13 draw.

When asked how the news was shared with the all the group members, Da-Silva, the group leader, told OLG staff that he asked his manager (who is part of the group), to send out an e-mail.

The subject line in the e-mail read "staff budget and travel emergency meeting."

When they opened their e-mails, it informed them there was going to be a change in their financial forecast for the year. Da-Silva checked the ticket using an OLG self ticket checker.

"I had four tickets to check, the first ticket won $10. 'Not bad. I thought.' Then the second ticket I checked showed just over $24 million! I couldn't believe my eyes. I was so happy I forgot to check the remaining two tickets!"

Da-Silva told staff at the OLG Toronto Prize Centre, when the group collected their prize cheque of just over $24 million today. The groups' individual plans for their share of the windfall include sharing with family, traveling, paying off mortgages and debts. The winning ticket was purchased at Sobeys at Yonge and St. Clair Avenue East in Toronto.

List of group members:

- Avelino Da-Silva of Etobicoke - Fiona Corbin of Etobicoke - Grace Hsu- Holmes of Toronto - Lynn Murrell of Pickering - Christopher Sloan of Toronto - Garrett Millar of Pickering - Michael Battrick of Hamilton - Michael O'Keefe of Toronto - Peter Ng-Yuen of Toronto - Dave Narsingh of Scarborough - Farida Mersali of Willowdale - Ewa Czekalewska of Pickering - Colette Snyder of Toronto - Shakiba Khan of Pickering - Sheila McMullin of Oakville - Seeta Singh of Scarborough - Spiros Gardanis of Mississauga - Dawn Baird-Spence of Aurora - Dorothy Ashitei of Mississauga - Lawrence Rogue of Toronto - Esther De Souza of Toronto - Katherine Babiuk of Brampton - Kuo Ting Lu of Markham - Rosanna McLeod of Whitby

OLG is a provincial agency responsible for province-wide lottery games and gaming facilities.

Since 1975, OLG lotteries, casinos, slots, and resort casinos have generated more than $23 billion for the benefit of the province of Ontario.

Gaming proceeds support Ontario's hospitals, amateur sport, recreational and cultural activities, communities, provincial priority programs such as health care and education, and local and provincial charities and non-profit organizations through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

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