What would any father who won a lovely wedge on the lottery do with his winnings? I know that my dad (God bless him) would have spent it on a camper van, miscellaneous machinery for making things, and possibly a vacation.
For the father of two from Maple, Ontario, winner of $100,000 on the Encore Lotto Max Draw, the plans are to help his children purchase new homes.
Vladimir Koustov has been playing the lottery for ten years and it finally paid off when he hit the jackpot. The lucky father matched the last six of seven Encore numbers in exact order in the July 12, 2024. on Lotto Max draw.
In a press release, Koustov recalled going to the store to validate his ticket when the owner started jumping up and down.
Koustov recalls: “I asked, ‘What’s going on? and the store owner said, ‘You won big, my friend!’ I immediately froze and had no words.”
Not surprising that Koustov said he 'screamed for joy’ when he found out he had won such a huge sum of money. The winning ticket was purchased at the Kitchen Food Fair on Dufferin Street in Thornhill.
Koustov said that he felt very lucky, and that his wife was also overjoyed at the news, especially when he revealed that he was going to help his children buy their first homes.
Koustov isn’t the only Canadian lottery winner who wanted to share his prize with family. Another winner, Maria-Anna Tarantino, also unselfishly put her $1 million lottery win towards helping her grandchildren travel the world.
Most of my career was spent in teaching including at one of the UK’s top private schools. I left London in 2000 and set up home in Wales raising four beautiful children. I enrolled at University where I studied Photography and film and gained a Degree and subsequently a Masters Degree. In 2014 I helped launch a new local newspaper and managed to get front and back page as well as 6 filler pages on a weekly basis. I saw that journalism was changing and was a pioneer of hyperlocal news in Wales. In 2017 I started one of the first 24/7 free independent news sites for Wales. Having taken that to a successful business model I was keen for a new challenge. Joining the company is exciting for me especially as it is a new role in Europe. I am keen to establish myself and help others to do the same.
Read Full Bio