Walter Hickaway is known in his Winnipeg, Manitoba neighbourhood as “The Candyman”. He’s the elderly gentleman with pockets full of candy who happily passes the sweet treats around in exchange for smiles.

The Candyman’s life just became a whole lot sweeter – his PAYDAY ticket for the October 2nd draw won the Top Prize of $1,000 a week for life, or $675,000! He bought his ticket from Curtis Gordon Hotel, located at 1011 Henderson Highway in Winnipeg.

Following the Thursday draw, Walter checked the lottery winning numbers in the newspaper and saw that he had all four of the PAYDAY numbers in the Top Prize category. However, he wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

“So, I called the lottery head office and the woman there told me how much I’d won. Then I called my daughter right away!” said Walter.

Walter opted to take the cash prize and said he plans to give most of it to his two adult children. “God gifted me with two wonderful kids,” the happy winner said, “and I’m going to share this with my family. This has been my dream my entire life.”