TWO Wyndham stores are proving that lightning can strike twice as division one winning lottery tickets were sold at different ends of the municipality last week.

Target Lotto, located in the Hoppers Crossing Shopping Centre, sold two division one tickets while Wyndham Village Lotto and News from the Wyndham Village Shopping Centre in Tarneit also sold one.

It is the second winning ticket sold from Wyndham Village Lotto and News recently, which sold another one on Christmas Eve.

Owner Rod Johnson attributed the winning streak to a lucky Buddha statue kept in the store.

“It’s our eighth major win in just six years,” Mr Johnson said.

“We bought a little Buddha statue in 2007 and since we’ve had him in the store, that’s when all the division ones have come in.”

The winning tickets from the two stores were part of the same syndicate, meaning that the lucky winners walked away with just under $90,000 each.

Carlo Addamo from Target Lotto, which also sold division one tickets on 3 October and 22 October said amazingly, one of last week’s winners was also a winner last time.

In total the Hoppers Crossing resident has won around $1.3 million from the store.

“I rang her on Sunday morning and said ‘you know what it means when I ring on a Sunday’, and straight away she knew,” Mr Addamo said.

Article source: http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/star/werribee-hoppers-crossing/336/story/149137.html

Posted 7 hours ago

It could be anything from a new purse to a forgotten bookmark to an unfortunate washing machine incident.

For one reason or another, two winning, million-dollar lottery tickets that were bought in Manitoba last year have gone unclaimed. If no one steps forward the tickets will expire within weeks, taking the million-dollar prizes with them.

“This is unusual that we’d have more than one, although it does happen occasionally that prizes expire unclaimed,” said Andrea Marantz, a spokeswoman for the Western Canada Lottery Corporation.

The tickets in question, each worth $1 million, are both Lotto Max tickets drawn last March 4 and April 15.

Both tickets won secondary prizes of $1 million on draw dates when a $50 million “Maxmillions” grand prize was available.

The tickets were both bought outside of Winnipeg, but somewhere in Manitoba.

“We can’t be any more specific than that. It could be Lorette or Oakbank or Churchill. At this point we don’t know,” Marantz said. “There are reports we could run to find out, but that’s part of the security procedure once someone brings in the ticket.”

It’s not uncommon for winners to wait a few weeks or even months to claim their prize, as they consult lawyers and financial advisors, or wait for the completion of a life event like a university course or divorce, Marantz said.

Over the years, some winners have come in just short of the one-year expiry deadline with much stranger tales, including a university student who had unknowingly been using a winning ticket as a bookmark, a woman who left her ticket in an old purse when she bought a new one, and a man who had simply been waiting for a rainy day to check a backlog of tickets.

“Generally it’s that they’ve just forgotten about them,” Marantz said.

It’s rarer yet for a WCLC prize to go altogether unclaimed. The largest such prize, a Lotto 6/49 ticket drawn in Alberta in June 2006, was worth nearly $15 million.

Prize money that goes unclaimed is rolled back into future jackpots, bonus draws and other games, Marantz said.

WINNING TICKETS:

Call Western Canada Lottery Corp at 1-800-665-3313 ASAP if you have one of these tickets. If you do, you’ve won $1 million!

March 4, 2011, Lotto Max: 2, 20, 26, 38, 42, 43, 46

April 15, 2011, Lotto Max: 1, 4, 16, 31, 43, 48, 49

Advertisement

Article source: http://www.winklertimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3478038

After nearly two months of waiting, a Hawkesbury couple will receive their $50 million Lotto Max jackpot next week.

“It’s going to happen,” Gaetan Champagne told the Citizen. “Everything is going to be OK after that.”

Ontario Lottery and Gaming launched an investigation when former depanneur owners Gaetan and Jo Ann Champagne came forward to claim their prize in January. The OLG’s “no play at work” policy prevents retailers from buying, checking or claiming lottery prizes at their place of work.

The “routine investigation” is now complete and Champagne said the couple will be handed a cheque in Toronto on Feb. 29.

“We know we’re going to buy a house and give some (money) to family, but we didn’t talk to our investor yet,” Champagne said.

The couple sold Jo’s Depanneur, a lottery retailer, two months before they won the Dec. 30 draw. They were on their way to the Rideau Carleton Raceway to play the slots on New Year’s Eve when they stopped to check the ticket.

Now $50 million richer, the couple plans to stay in Hawkesbury.

“It’s a nice place. I like to live here,” said Champagne.

The 51-year-old opened Toys for Boys? – a hobby shop that sells hockey cards and electric trains – in December. For now, at least, Champagne plans to keep the business open.

“That’s going to be my little store to run so I have something to do,” he said.

cfedio@ottawacitizen.com twitter.com/cfedio

Article source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Hawkesbury+lotto+winners+finally+cleared+collect+jackpot/6182606/story.html

By Dara Kam

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:59 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012

Posted: 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012

• Post a Comment
• E-mail
• Print
• Larger Type
  Small Type

Felons convicted of drug possession won’t be able to get food stamps or
emergency cash for poor families, unless they complete state-approved
substance abuse treatment programs, under a bill approved by a Florida House
committee Tuesday.

The Human Services Committee also voted to deny recipients of the cash aid the
right to use the aid debit cards at strip joints or gambling locales.

Both measures are aimed at ensuring that the money going to needy families
benefits children, proponents say.

Federal law already bars drug-abusing, convicted felons from eligibility for
food stamps. But the federal government allows states to opt out of the
prohibition, which Florida did more than two decades ago.

Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, called the felon bill (HB 813)
mean-spirited. “This bill presumes all poor people have a problem and
use dollars in an inappropriate ways, especially those who have been
convicted of a drug crime.”

But Rep. Dennis Baxley, a former state director of the Christian Coalition,
said making sure felons who were convicted of drug possession complete
treatment is a good thing. The committee today voted 12-6, along party
lines. A Senate committee is expected to vote on the measure Wednesday .

“It’s about government not being a codependent,” Baxley, R-Ocala,
said, adding that 80 percent of crimes are related to drug abuse. “Anything
we can do to help people identify and move away from that is a benefit.”

Those who are ineligible for the benefits because of their felony convictions
could name someone else to receive the aid on behalf of the children in the
family, who would otherwise lose out . But some critics say the requirement
that felons complete state-approved drug treatment could be problematic,
because many of the approved facilities have wait lists and cost money.

A separate, more controversial measure would restrict where those who receive
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families can use state-issued debit cards.
The measure (HB 1401) would prohibit the cards’ use at liquor stores, strip
clubs and gambling establishments and out-of-state.

“Sometimes, to do the right thing, all people need is a little bit of
encouragement,” Baxley said before the 13-4 vote. Rep. Mack Bernard of
West Palm Beach split with fellow Democrats on the bill, saying he was
troubled to learn the cards had been used at Internet cafés.

The out-of-state provision could hurt abused women fleeing the state for their
safety, Pafford objected. Other critics of the proposed policy said limiting
where the cards can be used will not have much impact, in part because the
cards can be used at ATMs, which provide cash that can be spent anywhere.

Article source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-house-committee-oks-restrictions-on-food-stamps-2190732.html

MANILA, Philippines –  The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes (PCSO) announced that a 72-year-old male retiree from Southern Leyte claimed yesterday his share of the P300-million jackpot of the 6/55 Grand Lotto online lottery draw last Saturday.

PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas said the winner picked the six-digit number combination 10-20-11-16-28-14 using the birthday of his only child.

Another winner from Taytay, Rizal shared the P300,150.554.40 jackpot. The Taytay winner has not yet claimed the other half of the prize.

This is the biggest lotto jackpot so far this year after a jobless man from Surigao claimed the P55-million jackpot for the 6/49 Super Lotto draw last month.

Rojas handed the check worth P150,150,077.27 to the Leyte retiree at the PCSO central office at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

“The winner wants to spend a portion of his winnings for scholarship of poor but deserving students in his hometown,” he said.

He said the jackpot of the Grand Lotto steadily increased to P300 million from the P30-million initial jackpot last Dec. 30.

Another lucky player from La Trinidad, Benguet hit the P30-million initial jackpot of the Grand Lotto Draw last Monday.

Rojas said the winner got the six-digit combination 39-02-01-33-03-23.

A housewife from Lapu-Lapu City also claimed the P37,378,981.80 jackpot of the 6/49 Super Lotto draw last Feb 9.

Among the new members of the so-called “Lotto Millionaire’s Club” is a 32-year-old employee of a forwarding company in Zamboanga City who bagged the P28,027,321.20 jackpot of the 6/42 Regular Lotto draw.

A 39-year-old jobless man from Valenzuela City also won the P19,295,148.60 prize of another 6/42 Regular Lotto draw.

Article source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=779912&publicationSubCategoryId=63

Published on Tuesday 21 February 2012 14:31

Barry McCloskey’s newsagents in Dungiven has notched up a hat trick of bumper National Lottery wins to make it one of the luckiest shops in Northern Ireland.

And the latest win of almost £91,000 has gone to a man Barry grew up beside in the County Derry town – 48 year-old joiner Kieran Kelly.

Barry had already sold two jackpot winning tickets before his lifelong friend bought his Lotto ticket last Wednesday: Local woman Ann Logan won £479,126 in 2006 and four years before that Limavady van driver Stephen Boyd netted £1,456,675.

Bachelor Kieran’s ticket won him the Lotto’s 5+Bonus Ball prize of £90,778 – and it was all down to the flu.

He explained : “I work in Dublin during the week and had to come home on Wednesday because I was well under the weather with the flu. I went into Barry’s shop when I got off the bus and it was just about five minutes before the lottery closed at 7.30pm.

“I usually buy my ticket from Barry on Saturdays when I’m home for the weekend so it’s just been an incredible turn of events. It also cured my flu pretty quickly.”

Barry said he couldn’t be happier that his latest winning ticket went to his lifelong friend.

He said : “Our parents were neighbours in the town so I grew up beside Kieran. I couldn’t be more pleased – unless, of course, it had been me!

“I don’t know why the shop is so lucky but let’s hope it continues to happen. People go miles out of their way to buy their tickets here.”

The Kelly family are well known throughout the Dungiven area and in his day Kieran was a leading member of the Dungiven GAA club, winning a host of football and hurling medals that included county championship medals in both sports.

“I really can’t believe I’ve been so lucky”, he says. “It’s a lovely amount of money – just enough to make life comfortable while keeping my feet on the ground. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet but it will certainly allow me to travel round Ireland enjoying my passion for traditional music.”

• Email to a friend
• Print this page

Article source: http://www.derryjournal.com/lifestyle/lucky_lotto_shop_gets_lucky_again_1_3544659