A trio of lottery luck

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 posted 03:44 PM EDT

It's not unusual to have people walk into the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation office and ask for millions — but rarely two at the same time.

Anne Gray and her husband Michael Psaki had alerted the lottery staff that they would be coming to the Dundas St. office to claim their $10.8 million prize at 11 a.m. yesterday. At the same moment, unexpectedly, Antonio Arrojado and his family walked into the office with a winning $9.1 million ticket.

"This is rare," said Teresa Roncon, the senior manager of public relations at the lottery corporation. Monday is always a busy day, she said, because that's when weekend winners usually come in to claim their money.

Gray, 46, and Psaki, 54, have known for more than two weeks they were millionaires. On Aug. 12, their ticket was one of four that split the $43 million Lotto 6/49 pot.

"We're careful, cautious in our approach," Psaki said, explaining he and his wife both work in the insurance business and their well-organized approach reflects their character.

"We wanted to get everything in place. It's a lot of money; it's a lot of things to consider," Psaki said.

As for Arrojado, "life is going to be a lot easier," he said. The winning number was drawn Aug. 19, but the construction worker didn't realize his Lotto 6/49 ticket was a winner until last Friday. He rushed in yesterday to collect his prize.

Roncon said they are always ready for winners to walk in at any moment to get their money. The cheques are printed in the office. A caterer is always on standby to deliver sandwiches and a cake. And the oversized cheques the winners hold for the photos are actually plastic, a black marker is used to personalize it and once the picture is taken the information is wiped off — ready for the next big winner. "We throw celebrations at the last minute," Roncon said.

Arrojado, 44, has been hoping for this party for a long time. He buys lottery tickets every week. Originally from Portugal, the father of two plans to use the money to take his family back to the country to visit. He said he is going to quit his job, and while he and his wife do not plan to buy a new house, he hopes to get a new vehicle.

Gray and Psaki are going to travel this fall. They plan to go to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, as well as visit Eastern Europe.

Gray said it has been difficult to contain the excitement for two weeks. The couple wanted to prepare themselves before becoming millionaires.

They informed their employers they would be leaving, changed their phone number and even notified their bank they would be coming to deposit the money.

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