He dreamed of a big lottery win -- then woke up and began living it.

Blair Knutson, a Gimli store owner, was presented with a cheque for nearly $16.7-million yesterday at a news conference confirming him as the winner of last Saturday's Lotto 6/49 draw.

Knutson and his wife Cheryl, accompanied by more than 15 friends and family members, were all smiles following the cheque presentation at a downtown Winnipeg hotel.

The 42-year-old said he had a premonition on Saturday night following his purchase of a Lotto 6/49 ticket at his G & C Grocery store in the town north of Winnipeg.

"I had a dream that somebody in Manitoba had won the 6/49. It didn't have to be me, but I had this vision," he said, adding he remembered the dream the following day while at his store.

"We keep the print-out on one of the coolers, and I read it. It said the winning ticket was sold in Manitoba. So I took the ticket out of my pocket."

A check with a clerk regarding his Quick Pick confirmed Knutson's good fortune.

"I didn't believe her, like most people I talked to that night," said Knutson, a father of three.

"I was running around a little crazy. It was fun."

His haul of $16,682,341 is Manitoba's fourth-largest lottery win ever.

"I'm still kind of in shock. I don't know how to explain it yet," Cheryl Knutson, 43, said after arriving for the Western Canada Lottery Corp. news conference in what she called a "party bus" with her family, as other relatives flew in from Regina.

"We never slept," she said of the previous night. "We partied until about a quarter to five."

The couple has yet to make firm plans regarding big expenditures for themselves and their three children.

Knutson, however, joked that he needs "a new mattress" and wouldn't mind a vacation to Bora Bora.

'LITTLE TOYS'

"Nothing large, nothing big. I guess we're just all going to have to sit down and decide from there," he said when asked what he'll do with his loot.

"Little toys, like snowmobiles. Winter is coming."

He has no plan to leave his business, which he described as "the best job right now."

The WCLC stressed that Knutson -- who bought the ticket from his own store -- won legitimately. After suspicions about "insider wins," a lengthy investigation by the Ontario ombudsman found an estimated 247 insider wins and $86 million in stolen jackpots.

"There were absolutely no red flags raised on this," said WCLC spokeswoman Andrea Marantz. "There was absolutely no cause for concern with this."