North York single-dad takes home $5 million on SUPER 7

    TORONTO, Oct. 20 /CNW/ - Paul Jaques was 20 years old when he was
rear-ended in a car accident and told it would be difficult to work because of
his back injury. The now 41 year old former machine operator had to plow ahead
and work anyway for 15 years to support his family, many of them as a
single-dad with a young son to raise. "I feel relieved now," a composed Jaques
told the Prize Centre staff when he came in to collect his winnings. "I
haven't been able to work for more than five years now, this means I can pay
off debts and go to physiotherapy."
    Jaques was just kidding around on Sunday night when he told Cheryl his
wife of three years that he was going to check the winning numbers on the
Internet so he could go to bed that night a millionaire. Imagine his surprise
when he found out that he truly was the single winner of the SUPER 7 jackpot
draw of Friday October 17th, worth $5,000,000.00.
    "My wife thought I was joking," said Jaques. "I thought it was a prank,"
added Cheryl, also 41, "then we both went into shock, and we're still feeling
that way!" The couple plan to buy a home, perhaps in the country, a car that's
comfortable for Paul's back and Cheryl's mother, take a little vacation, buy a
bedroom suite, and enjoy a simpler life.
    The winning ticket was purchased at Goldfinch Lawrence, on Goldfinch
Court in North York.

                         Protecting Lottery Customers

    OLG has taken significant action toward protecting lottery customers from
theft and fraud. To date, the following safeguards have been put in place:

    -   The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is now Ontario's
        lottery regulator. Insider and suspicious wins will be investigated
        by OPP officers assigned to the AGCO. All calls regarding potential
        fraud or theft are routed directly to Investigations.

    -   Improved training and procedures for OLG investigations of prize
        claims made by the general public are now in place.

    -   It is now mandatory for customers to sign their lottery tickets. If
        tickets are not signed when validated by a retailer, the retailer
        will ask the customer to sign them. Retailers cannot validate tickets
        that are not signed. The front of lottery tickets includes a
        signature box and a message further reminding customers to sign their
        tickets. New signature lines are now beginning to appear on INSTANT
        tickets.

    -   A news release is issued for every lottery winner over $10,000 and
        the information is posted on OLG's website, OLG.ca, for approximately
        30 days. For Insider wins, described as people who have a perceived
        influence over the lottery scheme, and people who sell, redeem and
        distribute lottery products, or family members (spouse, children,
        parents, siblings as well as any other relative not described here
        who resides in the same household) of Insiders, a news release is
        also distributed and posted on the OLG website for approximately 30
        days and payment of the prize is withheld for that 30 day period to
        give anyone with concerns about the win, an opportunity to come
        forward.

    -   Ticket Checkers are available at all lottery terminal retailers for
        customers to check their own lottery tickets (all on-line games such
        as LOTTO 6/49 and SUPER 7). At present, customers cannot use the
        Ticket Checkers to check INSTANT lottery tickets (scratch and win
        games). We expect to introduce this feature later this year.

    -   The lottery terminal 'freezes' when a winning ticket worth $5,000 or
        more is validated. The freeze sends a signal to OLG data centre,
        prompting an OLG representative to immediately call the customer at
        the retail outlet to confirm the win with the retailer and the
        customer by telephone.

    -   Enhancements to the lottery terminal Customer Display Screens
        include:

           -  Whenever a ticket is checked by a retailer at a lottery
              terminal, customers will see a video message on the Customer
              Display Screen and hear a winning or non-winning jingle with a
              voice-over message. These alerts will tell you whether you have
              a winning ticket or not.

           -  Jingles and videos play for a longer time when a winning ticket
              is validated, and winning/non-winning messages appear in a
              larger print font.

           -  A new video, jingle and voice-over message plays for winning
              tickets worth $5,000 or more along with a display indicating
              "BIG WINNER".

    -   All on-line lottery tickets are branded along the front, left-hand
        side as winning or non-winning when validated through the terminal.

    -   OLG has conducted public education campaigns to remind people to sign
        and check their tickets and to call our hotline if they have any
        concerns.

    -   Our Customer Excellence Centre provides service 7 days a week, from
        6am-2am.

    OLG is a provincial agency responsible for province-wide lottery games
and gaming facilities. Since 1975, OLG lotteries, casinos, slots, and resort
casinos have generated more than $23 billion for the benefit of the Province
of Ontario. Gaming proceeds support Ontario's hospitals, amateur sport,
recreational and cultural activities, communities, provincial priority
programs such as health care and education, and local and provincial charities
and non-profit organizations through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

                       Know your limit, play within it!

             THE ONTARIO PROBLEM GAMBLING HELPLINE 1-888-230-3505
                           Disponible en français

    /NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available on
    the CNW Photo Network and archived at http://photos.newswire.ca.
    Additional archived images are also available on the CNW Photo Archive
    website at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited
    members of the media/

For further information: For photo and more information contact: Prize
Centre Media Line, (416) 391-8080, 20 Dundas St. West, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C2