"Everyone was yelling that I won $48M!": Student becomes youngest Canadian to win huge jackpot
A woman from Ontario has won a $40 million jackpot, becoming the youngest Canadian in history to win such a massive amount.
Juliette Lamour, a resident of Sault Ste. Marie, is a teenager. She picked up her hefty Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball cheque from the OLG headquarters in her city on January 7.
“I just turned 18 and my grandfather suggested I buy a lottery ticket for fun,” Lamour said.
The college student went to a store to buy a ticket but didn’t really know how to go about it as it was her first time playing the lotto. “I called my dad who told me to buy a Lotto 6/49 Quick Pick,” she recalled. “I still can’t believe I hit the Gold Ball jackpot on my very first lottery ticket!”
And the funny part is that Lamour forgot all about the purchase until she heard the news about the winning Lotto 6/49 ticket having been bought in Sault Ste. Marie.
Her colleagues brought it up while she was at work. That’s when the lightbulb lit up ā it could be her.
A coworker helped her scan her ticket on his phone using the OLG App and the “Big Winner” winner jingle began to play.
“My colleague fell to his knees in disbelief. He was yelling, in fact, everyone was yelling that I won $48 million!” Lamour said. “I didn’t understand what was going on at first. I couldn’t process this news. We kind of made a scene in the store that day!”
The winner called her mother as she cried happy tears, fumbling her words on the phone in excitement. It was only after her dad pieced her words together that the family figured out their daughter was now a multimillionaire.
“I knew I couldn’t focus on work and my boss told me I could go home, but my mom wanted me to stay and finish my shift!” she said, adding that her colleagues had to tell her parents to “come and get her,” which they eventually did.
Can someone so young manage such a huge jackpot?
Lucky for Lamour, her father is a financial planner and will be helping her invest the majority of it while she studies to become a doctor without having to worry about student loans.
“As a member the Garden River First Nation community, I was eligible for educational assistance programs, but I no longer need those resources which means someone else in the community can benefit from that funding,” Lamour told OLG. “I really want to come back to this area as a doctor so I can give back to my community.”
Aside from focusing on school, the 18-year-old will spend some time planning a bunch of summer adventures that’ll involve a ton of globetrotting.
“Once school is done, my family and I will pick a continent and start exploring. I am not a ‘sit on the beach’ type of person,” she said. “I want to experience different countries, study their history and culture, try their food, and listen to their language.”
After the news finally set in, Lamour also received some golden advice from people close to her: “Money doesn’t define you, it’s the work you do that will define you.”
She looks forward to having her family alongside her throughout this life-changing journey.
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