A janitor at the Ottawa-Carlton District School board won the top prize in the July 16 Lotto 6/49. Kevin Frost, 39, picked up his $7. 379 million check Thursday. Being persistent finally paid off for Frost, who has been betting on the lottery since he was 18. Frost said he plans use his winnings to pay his mortgage, buy a house and travel to Scotland to play golf.

Villagers in the remote town of Koh Sireh in Thailand believe that a banana tree is capable of predicting the winning numbers in lottery. People from as far as Phattalung, Phang Nga and Krabi, Thailand have been trooping to the village to pay visit and respect to the banana tree. Some were hoping to be given the winning numbers of the lottery, while some are paying respect, claiming that the tree gave them fortune by giving them winning numbers.

The number 13 is the unluckiest ball in the National Lottery, according to records of organizers of the numbers' game in the U. K. According to Camelot, the organizer of the lotto game in Britain, in the 12 years that the game was launched in the U. K. , the number 13 has been drawn only 132 times.

A single player or a syndicate has bagged Germany's largest lottery jackpot of $47. 4 million dollars. The ticket had cost almost $12 dollars and was purchased in the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The prize remains unclaimed. "If it is one player and not a syndicate, it would be the biggest single win in the history of the German lottery," said Horst Mentrup of Lotto GmbH.

A couple aged 68 and 73 who won $4. 8 million in Saturday's Lotto said they would stay in their house and will leave their lifestyle unchanged despite their newfound wealth. The "noveau riche" pensioners identified as John David, 68 and his wife Pat, 73, of Portsmouth, Hants have insisted on driving their old car, a Vauxhall Astra.