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Handout / OLG

A Toronto man won $2.5 million with a lottery ticket he initially forgot about and checked it weeks after the drawing.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) said in a news release that Scarborough resident Christopher Baker won half of a $5 million Lotto 6/49 classic jackpot in the June 15 drawing.

His ticket was one of two that split the jackpot, OLG noted.

Baker has been an occasional lotto player, usually buying Quick Pick Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max tickets.

The release said Baker didn’t find out about his windfall until weeks after the draw because he forgot to check.

“I was at home when I remembered that I had a small pile of tickets that I had not yet checked,” Baker said in the release.

“When I scanned my tickets on the OLG app, I reached the last one, a Lotto 6/49 ticket from June.”

“Big winner” appeared on the screen and Baker said he wondered how much he had won.

“Then I saw the price total and couldn’t process all the zeroes,” he said.

“I took a screenshot and counted the zeros,” Baker added.

“I checked the winning numbers on OLG.ca and compared them to my ticket. My heart was pounding, but the more I checked the details, the more excited I felt.”

He said he is grateful for the big win and never thought it would happen.

Baker, who works as a designer, said he hasn’t been able to think about what to do with the money because “it hasn’t felt real until now.”

“I want to invest for my future and for my children. I would love to celebrate with a trip. I just need to figure out where to go and what to do,” he says.

The winning ticket was purchased in Scarborough at the Pik-Kwik Convenience on Kingston Road.

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