Lotto Max Winner In Alberta Wasn't Wearing His Glasses & Thought He Had Won $100K
It was way more!
Lotto Max winner Ivan Derksen. Right: Lotto Max winner Jean Janson.
There's been plenty of Lotto Max winners in Alberta over the past few months, and the province is continuing its winning streak, with two Lotto Max winners from Edmonton both taking away a cool $1 million.
Ivan Derksen bought his ticket at the Harvest Hills Shell at 5112 Ellerslie Road in Edmonton the Sunday before the October 14 Lotto Max draw.
As a regular Lotto Max player, he has a system of buying his tickets on a Sunday and checking last week's tickets at the same time.
Returning to Harvest Hills Shell as planned, Derksen scanned his ticket and couldn't believe his eyes.
“We thought it was $100,000 – we weren't wearing our glasses," he said.
“Once we counted up all the zeroes, we couldn’t believe it. It's still unbelievable!”
Derksen also has plans for his windfall, including paying off debt.
“We’re going to keep living our regular lives, but we can pay off our mortgage and help out our family," he said.
The whole experience has been "very surreal," he added.
Derksen isn't the only lucky Lotto Max winner in Edmonton, as resident Jean Janson also won big.
Janson bought her ticket from Mundare Esso at 5321 Sawchuck Street in Mundare just a couple of days before the October 4 Lotto Max draw.
However, when she checked her ticket, she was "shocked" to see that she'd actually won an impressive $1 million on the Lotto Max Maxmillions draw.
“When I saw I won, I had to look up the numbers online to be sure," she said.
Janson still couldn't believe what she was seeing, and she checked her ticket five more times on the Lotto Spot app and another two times on the self-checker throughout the week.
"I just couldn’t believe it, I’ve never won nothing big before," she said.
However, the reality of Janson's win has finally started to sink in, and she already has some plans on what to do with her money.
“I want to pay off my house and share some with my family. I’ll be debt free – and it’ll be like, ‘oh, I can relax now,'" she explained.
If you or someone you know is struggling with problem gambling, refer to these helplines across Canada. Support is available.
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