Two men, one from London and the other from St. Catharines, took top prizes in one of the province's oldest mega-lotteries.
Officials with the Dream Lottery made the draw for the Ultimate Grand Prize and 50/50 at the Pebblecreek Walk home in London on Tuesday.
Walter Ostanek, 81, of St. Catharines was drawn as the grand prize winner. He now has his choice of a luxury home in London, a container home in Bayfield, a loft condo in London, or $1-million cash. Ostanek, known as the Polka King, is a three time Grammy winner.
The 50/50 draw went to Dale Wilson of London. His share of the money totals $475,935, a new record high for the lottery.
The Dream Lottery, which began in 1996, supports the London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Health Care London, and Children’s Hospital.
Ron Mikula, board member for the London Health Sciences Foundation, has been with the lottery from the beginning, and sees first hand what good the money does for the community.
"The lottery has been a tremendous help in the community, and it's raised over $28-million dollars so far,” says Mikula.
He adds every dollar raise directly benefits patients.
"It goes to research, it goes to patient care, it's extra money that's not government money that we can use to do those special little things that we just wouldn't otherwise be able to do,” says Mikula.
While winners can sometimes be reached by phone, as of 11am neither Ostanek nor Wilson responded to phone calls or emails. Mikula reassures this isn’t uncommon, and they can always find the winner before the 12 month claiming period is up.
"We search high and low to find them,” says Mikula, “The people are out there, it's just that they are not answering their phones."
After the grand prize winner's name was announced, Twitter ignited with speculation the Walter Ostanek drawn was the Canadian Polka Legend of the same name. Ostanek, who was performing at Marineland Tuesday, was eventually tracked down and told of his win.
Wilson lucked out in this spring's draw, as 98% of the 50/50 tickets were sold, making the prize the largest the lottery has ever seen.
"It was a record year for the 50/50 draw,” says Mikula. "There was over $950,000 in 50/50 tickets purchased."
A total of 1,038 prizes were awarded during the two-day draw. As of July 21, the full list of winner can be found at www.dreamitwinit.ca.
**This story was written by Samuel Gallant. Samuel is a student in the Fanshawe College broadcast journalism program. He is performing a summer internship with Blackburn News.**
