$400,000 CROSSWORD Win in Cochrane!

$400,000 CROSSWORD Win in Cochrane!

What started as a quiet evening turned into a six-figure surprise for Paul Phillips of Cochrane after a careful examination of his $400,000 CROSSWORD Scratch & Win ticket revealed he won the game's top prize of $400,000!

In true crossword fashion, Phillips took his time, methodically checking each word before realizing he had something special.

"I was sitting in the kitchen before dinner scratching my tickets,” he explained. “I spent over 20 minutes checking over each letter trying to figure out how many words I have."

As he counted, his prize amount kept growing.

"I got to the 12th word, and that would have been $10,000,” he said. “But then right next to that 12th word was another three-letter word – I couldn't believe it!"

"I was completely shocked,” he continued. “In disbelief. I never expect to win!"

Wanting confirmation that his prize was real, Phillips made a quick trip to the store.

"I had to bring it in to confirm I won,” he said. “I took a picture of the ticket checker screen to show my wife that it's real."

With the prize now confirmed, Phillips and his wife are planning to put the windfall toward meaningful ways: "We plan to pay off some debt and our mortgage. It will be very helpful towards retirement."

The couple also plans to share the windfall with causes that matter to them: "There are some organizations that are near and dear to our hearts that we have always supported, so we plan to donate to those as well."

Phillips purchased his winning ticket from Dodd's Corner Petro-Canada, located at 61101-239 Griffin Road E in Cochrane.

Download the full release and winner's photo below.