London, Ont. - Dream Lottery winner Walter “Polka King” Ostanek celebrates by performing for the veterans at Parkwood Institute.

“Hoping to win, helping the cause,” is how 81-year-old Dream Lottery winner Walter Ostanek characterizes his reason for buying Dream Lottery tickets. He bought his first one many years ago in a trip through London and has been buying them ever since.

“They mail me a reminder, I mail them a cheque,” Ostanek says.

When he came from St. Catharines today to pick up his $1 million prize, the triple-Grammy-Award-winning musician known as Canada’s “Polka King” brought his famous accordion to the Western Counties Wing Auditorium at Parkwood Institute where he played a medley of popular tunes for an appreciative group of military veterans.

When the concert was suggested, Ostanek, didn’t hesitate. He just made sure to bring his friend, keyboardist Wayne Malton, to help. This isn’t the first time Ostanek played at Parkwood, but he jokingly notes that it was his first “million-dollar gig.”

“I really enjoyed this,” he says. “People are my life. If I can make people happy a little bit, it’s my pleasure.”

Ostanek, who started playing the accordion at age 9, also started playing lotteries at age 14, but this is the first substantial prize he’s won. He says the win will help care for his ailing wife, and he also intends to share his good fortune with family and friends.

Constantly on the go with concerts, TV shows and a regular gig at Marineland that he’s played for 32 years, Ostanek was asked if he will now slow down a bit. He answered, “It’s up to the good Lord, because I’m not selling my accordion!”

50/50 PlusTM winner Dr. Dale Wilson also has a connection to Parkwood. In addition to his family practice, the London physician cared for veterans for more than 20 years before switching to geriatric mental health. He was on early morning rounds at St. Joseph’s Health Care when the draw was made and he quickly started receiving calls and pages about his win. He ignored them to keep focus on his patients.

The win started to sink in after he got back to his family practice and was told that his name was all over social media. When lottery officials were finally able to meet with him later that afternoon, he told them, “We’ve been supporting Dream Lottery for years. We’re thrilled.”

His focus quickly went back to his practice, and when he left work late that evening he had the big display cheque announcing his $475,935 win in one hand and the clinic’s laundry in the other.

The lottery’s beneficiary hospitals were big winners too. With the proceeds from this draw, Dream Lottery has contributed more than $28 million (net) since 1996 to support patient care, research and education at St Joseph’s Health Care London, London Health Sciences Centre and Children’s Hospital at LHSC.

There were a total of 1,038 prizes awarded in the lottery’s final draws on July 11 and 12 under the supervision of accountants of record from the firm Deloitte LLP. The primary purchaser of each winning ticket will be contacted by phone and/or mail. A complete list of winners is posted on-line at www.dreamitwinit.ca.