A self-described “lucky guy” from Brampton has come forward as winner of largest lottery prize in Canadian history, the $70 million Lotto Max.

“I’m overwhelmed, excited, happy and shocked but mostly, I feel very, very blessed,” Adlin Lewis, 49, who works as a credit risk manager, said after accepting the prize on Tuesday.

It was just one day after the draw that Lewis found out he’d in fact won, the same morning the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) put out an alert to say the winner’s identity was still outstanding.

“While I was warming up my car, I scanned my ticket on the OLG Lottery App but I got an error message, so I tried again. And then I saw the words ‘Big Winner’ and the number 70!” he said. “I was shocked and wanted to confirm what I saw so I went online to see the winning numbers and one by one they matched!”

“I wanted to tell (my wife) in a special way — with a trip or something creative — but I couldn’t keep this news to myself, so I ended up waking her up in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday.”

Lotto Max raised the jackpot cap to $70 million last May, after a $60 million cap was set in 2015.

Adlin has been playing the lottery for the last 25 years and said he considers himself a lucky guy.

“A couple of years ago I won a car, and then more recently, I won both the first and second prizes in a workplace holiday draw,” he said. “When my colleagues found out that the winning $70 million Lotto Max ticket was sold in Brampton, they were joking at the office ‘Is Adlin here? Did Adlin call in sick today?’”

The $70 million ticket wasn’t the only jackpot ticket sold in Brampton that week. One ticket worth $1 million, and one worth just over $197,600, were also sold.

Adlin said he hopes to make some major investments following the win, and to find some time to travel with his wife. “We have a lot of options now,” he said.

“My wife has always wanted to try those VIP $100 slots in Las Vegas and now I can make that dream come true for her.”

The winning ticket was sold at George’s Convenience on Mississauga Road in Brampton. The odds of winning the main jackpot is about one in 33,294,800 per $5 play, according to the OLG.

Jan. 15, 2019 — Update: This story has been updated from a previously published version to add where the ticket was sold and what the odds are of winning the main jackpot.

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Miriam Lafontaine is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @mirilafontaine

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