Whitby man finds the ultimate $300,000 Cash Stash

A Whitby man is $300,000 richer after finding the ultimate Cash Stash lotto ticket.

Crane operator Christopher Popelyak, a father of two, bought a couple of scratcher tickets at Thickson Convenience on Thickson Road South in Whitby. He’d been playing scratchers for more than 20 years but had never won big.

However, he always likes to try the newly released games and gets a variety whenever he picks up tickets. This time “I bought two tickets, and the store clerk wished me a good weekend,” he told the OLG, “I made a joke saying, ‘I’ll go check them on the ticket checker and I’ll be back with the big winner.’”

“I checked one of my tickets and it had no prize. Then, I checked my second ticket and saw ‘$300,000’ on the screen. I was so surprised, I had to call the clerk over to verify what I was seeing. I just couldn’t believe it. When OLG called the store, I told them, ‘I’ve been waiting for this call for a long time,’” he continued.

Popelyak’s family was also surprised. “I showed them the validation slip and they were all shocked. I plan to share my winnings with them,” he said.

Cash Stash is available for $30 per ticket with a top prize of $300,000.