Sudbury Retiree Marcel Leclaire Wins the Lottery for the Third Time, Pockets $88,888 on a Hockey Hunch
A 73-year-old retired taxi driver from Sudbury, Ontario has done something most players never manage once. Marcel Leclaire has now won the lottery three times — and his latest win came down to a jersey number.
Leclaire claimed the top prize on an Instant Lunar 8s scratch ticket worth $88,888, his third major OLG win in less than a decade. He purchased the $5 ticket at Donovan Variety on Kathleen Street in Sudbury after one detail on the packaging caught his eye.
A Hockey Fan's $88,888 Lottery Instinct
"I'm a fan of David Pastrňák, and his jersey number is 88. I saw the number 88 on this ticket, so I decided to pick one up," Leclaire said.
He checked the ticket at the store. What happened next was immediately familiar — and still managed to stun him.
"I stood there in complete shock," he said. "Even though it was my third big win, the feeling was just as intense as the first."
He called his brother from the store. The trip to the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto came after.
Three Wins Spanning Nearly a Decade
Leclaire's lottery record is genuinely unusual. He first hit in 2017 — a $1 million Encore prize from a Lotto 6/49 draw. He initially thought he had won $1,000 until he counted the zeros. That win sent him dreaming about a road trip west to visit family.
Less than eight years later, in 2025, he returned to the OLG Prize Centre with a $3 million top prize after buying a $30 Instant Platinum ticket. He picked that one up because it was, in his words, "nice and shiny."
Now a third claim, at a different Sudbury store than his 2025 win. The Instant Lunar 8s ticket costs $5 per play, with overall odds of winning any prize listed at 1 in 3.61.
Plans Are Grounded, Not Flashy
The $88,888 prize is smaller in raw dollars than either previous win, but Leclaire is treating it with the same practical focus. He plans to buy a new home, furnish it, and save a portion of the winnings — a measured approach that mirrors how he handled his earlier windfalls.
More than 40 years of playing OLG games separates his first ticket from his latest. He has spent those decades as an ordinary lottery player — not a high-volume buyer chasing jackpots, but someone who picks up tickets that catch his attention and checks them at the counter.
"It's great, and I feel really fortunate," Leclaire said.
OLG confirmed the prize and the claim. Leclaire walked out of the Prize Centre in Toronto with his third verified top-prize payout in hand.
