Robert St. Onge of Azilda, Ontario just won $100,000 on a $5 scratch ticket. He is the latest in what has apparently been a remarkably good run for northern Ontario lottery players this summer, and honestly, good for them.
St. Onge is a resident of Azilda, a small community in the Greater Sudbury area. He won through the OLG’s Instant Plinko game, listed as Game #3401, a $5 ticket that gives players a 1 in 3.96 chance of winning any prize. He revealed a Plinko chip prize on his ticket, which sent him to the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to find out exactly what he had won.
He dropped the chip. It landed on $100,000.
If you have not played Instant Plinko, the concept is straightforward. You buy the $5 ticket and scratch for an instant prize. If you reveal a Plinko chip, you head to a participating store where an animated chip drop on the lottery terminal screen reveals whether you have hit a grand prize. Grand prize winners then travel to the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to drop a physical chip on a real Plinko board, with prizes ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 depending on where the chip lands.
St. Onge’s chip found the $100,000 slot. The winning ticket was purchased at GP Convenience on Notre-Dame Street East in Azilda.
What makes St. Onge’s win slightly more interesting than a standalone story is the context around it. According to OLG, his win continues a lucky streak for northern Ontario lottery players this summer. That is not a phrase lottery organizations throw around casually. When the corporation putting out the press release calls it a streak, something real has been happening up north.
St. Onge himself did not speak publicly about his plans for the money. OLG did not release details on his windfall, and he was not available for comment. That is entirely his right. Not everyone who wins a hundred thousand dollars wants to talk about it, and that restraint is arguably more sensible than the alternative.
What we do know is that a man from Azilda walked into GP Convenience, bought a $5 ticket, made a trip to Toronto, dropped a chip, and walked away with $100,000. The odds of winning any prize on that ticket are 1 in 3.96. The odds of winning a grand prize are considerably longer than that.
Northern Ontario is having a summer. Robert St. Onge is having a better one than most.
