‘83 is my year’: Scarborough senior wins $1M Lotto Max prize on her birthday

Scarborough's Virginia Zapata wins $1 million Lotto Max prize on her 83rd birthday. (OLG)

A senior from Scarborough has won $1 million on her 83rd birthday, after decades of playing the lottery.

Virginia Zapata tells OLG she has never missed a Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 draw for more than 40 years, using the quick pick feature to make her selections.

“I was shopping at the mall on my way out, I came across a kiosk, so I decided to stop and grab a ticket,” Zapata said.

A few days after the Lotto Max draw, Zapata said she validated her ticket and “froze” when she saw the amount displayed on the screen.

“My heart started racing as I stood there in shock. I turned to the store clerk and asked, ‘Is this real? This can’t be real,’” Zapata said.

The Scarborough resident said she never prepared to see a win like this in her lifetime. When she told her friends the news, Zapata said they started to dance “around her.”

“They’re all so happy for me,” Zapata said.

The senior says she, too, is happy with her million-dollar win.

“This is hands down one of my favourite birthdays ever. 83 is my year,” Zapata said.

Zapata says she plans to share her windfall with her family, as well as pay off her mortgage and take herself on a shopping spree at the mall.

“This win lets me cross one of the last few things off my bucket list,” she said.

Zapata bought her winning ticket for the April 25 draw from the Gateway Lotto Centre on Tapscott Road in Scarborough.