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Ontario couple to claim $50M lottery win
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CBC News
A couple from Hawkesbury, Ont., just east of Ottawa, say they will head to Toronto on Tuesday to claim their $50-million Lotto Max prize.
Jo Ann Champagne, 49, said she and her 51-year-old husband, Gaétan, picked up the winning ticket at a pharmacy while shopping for Boxing Day sales "so I could put away stuff for next year and save some money."
They had played the lottery for 20 years without much luck, she said.
"I had to stop at the corner store on the way into Hawkesbury and I put the ticket in the checker, like I do every Saturday when I buy my 6/49 and I check my Max," Champagne said. "So I put it in and it says 50,000.
"I'm going, 'Good, now I get rid of that ugly bathroom and new cupboards in my kitchen.'"
But Champagne had missed some zeroes on that first reading. In fact, she and her husband had won $50 million.
"It's like living a dream," she said. "You just hope nobody wakes you up."
The couple operated a convenience store in Hawkesbury called Jo's Depanneur for 12 years before selling it. They now operate a hobby shop that sells hockey cards and jerseys.
Lottery officials have confirmed a winning ticket for Friday’s $50 million lottery was validated by a couple in the Ottawa region.
But OLG said it won't reveal where the ticket was purchased or any information about the holders until the ticket is confirmed.
The two are expected to claim the prize later this week, said OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti.
Champagne said the couple plan to claim the prize on Wednesday morning.
The odds of a $5 ticket winning the Lotto Max jackpot are one in 28,633,528.
Four other tickets from the Dec. 30 draw won $1 million Maxmillion prizes. One was sold in Toronto and the other three were sold in western Canada.
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