Christmas comes early for one lucky Torontonian, winning over $1.28M in 680 NewsRadio’s charity draw

It will be a Christmas to remember for one man from Toronto who won 680 NewsRadio’s 50/50 Fortune draw in support of Food4Kids Ontario, a charity that helps feed kids in our community.

Arnel Ricardo Baltazar woke up Thursday morning to find out he had won the grand prize of $1,284,887.50.

He spoke with KiSS 92.5’s Roz and Mocha after learning the good news.

“Thank you very much!” Baltazar said, adding he’s feeling “overwhelmed, very overwhelmed.”

He said this is life-changing money.

“I just retired last August. It was like forced retirement, they got rid of our jobs and I wasn’t expecting it. I’m already 66 years old, so it’s a good amount of cash.”

Baltazar, who has three grown kids, said he will be sharing the wealth with family and friends.

“You know, I’ve been betting lottery for so many years and I’ve never expected this. My intent was just to help out with the kids.”

And help out with the kids he did, along with so many other Ontarians.

In total, more than $2 million in tickets were sold, and on Wednesday alone, over $500,000 in tickets were sold — $2,000 was the highest amount purchased by one person.

Baltazar bought $100 worth of tickets, including his winning ticket on Dec. 5.

Details of the draw were announced back in November. The more money 680 NewsRadio raised with 50/50 Fortune, the more kids the charity could assist. Listeners also had the chance to win early bird prizes, such as two tickets to see Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour at her final show at the Rogers Centre back in November.

Every ticket purchased for 50/50 Fortune helped provide healthy food for kids with limited or no access to food. Food 4 Kids prepares and distributes food to more than 4,000 children through 254 local schools.

The money raised for Food 4 Kids will help to ensure children have access to nutritious food when schools are closed on weekends, holidays, and during the summer months.

Key details from the draw’s ticket purchases:

• $2,000 in tickets sales every minute for most of the final morning of draw entry
• $800,000 in ticket sales in the final 30 hours
• Sold $500,000 the first week with the Taylor Swift early bird prize
• 13 – most orders done by one person
• 7% of listeners purchased more than than one order of tickets
• Over 56,000 individual purchases

Rogers is the parent company of CityNews and 680 NewsRadio