An Ontario man won $2.5 million on a lottery ticket he initially forgot about.

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Handouts / OLG

A Toronto man won $2.5 million with a lottery ticket he initially forgot about when he checked it weeks after the drawing.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) said in a news release that Scarborough resident Christopher Baker won half of the $5 million Lotto 6/49 classic jackpot in the June 15 drawing.

His ticket was one of two that shared the jackpot, OLG noted.

Baker played the lottery from time to time, usually buying Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max quick pick tickets.

The report says Baker didn’t find out about his winnings until weeks after the drawing because he forgot to check.

“I was at home when I remembered that I had a small stack of tickets that I had yet to verify,” Baker said in a press release.

“When I scanned my tickets in the OLG app, I found the last one – a June 6/49 lottery ticket.”

The screen said “Big Winner” and Baker said he was wondering how much he had won.

“Then I saw the prize amount and couldn’t process all the zeros,” he said.

“I took a screenshot and counted the zeros,” Baker added.

“I checked the winning numbers on OLG.ca and compared them with my ticket. My heart was racing, but the more I checked the details, the more excited I felt.”

He said he was grateful for the big win and never thought this would happen.

Baker, who works as a designer, said he couldn’t think about what to do with the money because “it didn’t feel real until now.”

“I want to invest in my future and my children. I’d like to celebrate with a trip. I just need to figure out where to go and what to do,” he said.

The winning ticket was purchased in Scarborough at Pik-Kwik Convenience on Kingston Road.

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