'Huge deal:' Former Wintario host Faye Dance recalls Ontario's first lottery

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Faye Dance was fresh out of broadcast journalism school in Toronto when she became the co-host of Winontario — Ontario’s first ever lottery that began in 1975 and is being celebrated this year as part of OLG’s 50 anniversary.

“I was in my early 20s and I graduated from Ryerson (now known as TMU) radio and television, top of my class,” said Dance, 75, of Etobicoke.

“Global Television was brand new. And I thought, ‘Well, I’m brand new.’ And I took the initiative,” she recalled. “I cold-called the president, Allan Slaight, of Global, and I talked to his secretary and I said, ‘I can come Tuesday or Thursday at 11 a.m. to tour your facilities. What is the best?’ And she stammered a minute and she said, ‘Well, I guess Tuesday.’ Everybody thought I was a somebody and I was an absolute nobody.”

Dance got a personal tour from Slaight and then he took her out for lunch and asked what she wanted.

“Three months later I got the call to come in and audition with (co-host) Fred Davis for Wintario,” said Dance. “And the rest is history. I was young but I had a lot of nerve. Wintario actually launched my career.

“And I can’t tell you how grateful I am because it was life-changing for me,” she added. “I went on to do talk shows and travel shows and commercials and movies.”

It used to be that on Thursday nights there were highly anticipated Wintario’s draws from various locations around the province until it ended in 1990.

“It was a huge deal because 85% of Ontario households bought tickets and tuned in,” said Dance.

“When those Wintario trucks rolled into town either the day of or the day before, people went nuts. We had full houses, every arena, every community centre, every location. And I did 660 shows.”

As you might have guessed there were some hiccups along the way given it was a live broadcast.

“One night we had a skunk and he didn’t follow the rules,” said Dance. “Now keep in mind we didn’t have any air conditioning in those days and in a lot of these auditoriums the side doors would be open.

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“And Fred and I were hosting the show and in walked the skunk — he just sauntered right through, underneath the podium, and went out the other door,” she continued. “We didn’t even mention it on the air. We were just absolutely frozen. It didn’t let off its smell. He was well-behaved.”

Dance, whose later co-host was Greg Beresford after Davis retired, says she’s still recognized daily from her Wintario days, as she stays busy in her later years.

She’s working and just travelled to Ireland, Scotland, England and Lithuana.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Dance. “I did a Hallmark movie: Mother of the Bride. I did some animation work because my little three-year-old grandson is American and he will be able to watch this on his television. So that was a fun project.

“I’m not really looking for a tonne of work anymore,” she added. “My love right now is to travel and my kids live in London, England, and Buffalo, N.Y.”

In the meantime, there’s a new limited-time, raffle-style Wintario50 lottery available until the one-time draw on Thursday that offers 800 guaranteed prizes worth a total of more than $5 million. Wintario50 can be purchased for one play for $5 or three plays for $10.