Lottery-winning grandparents to pay off family’s mortgages and tuition
Apart from a comfortable retirement, these lottery-winning grandparents want to ensure their loved ones are cared for.
While they plan to live it up by treating themselves to a new car or a vacation, it seems that winning is so much sweeter for these winners when they can share their good fortune with their loved ones.
From helping with their grandchildren’s education to paying off their kids’ mortgages, here’s how these family-oriented winners plan to share their wealth.
“This is a family win in my eyes”
OLG
Retiree Michael Benson has been playing the lottery weekly for years and was surprised when he won $5,000… or so he thought.
“At first, I thought I won $5,000. It wasn’t until I spoke with OLG that I realized I won $5 million,” said the resident from Ottawa, Ontario. He also won another $5 on one of his other lottery tickets, bringing his total prize to $5,000,005.
He said he might spend his winnings on a new car; however, a true family man, Benson said, “This is a family win in my eyes. I will share this with my children and grandchildren.”
“We’ll all celebrate together at home”
@atlanticlottery/Instagram
Clint and Pat Lettice of Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, were going through their lottery tickets one day when Clint noticed that the results for one ticket looked different from the rest.
“I said, ‘Pat, did you see this?” Clint recalled. “‘I don’t believe it,’ she said. ‘How did I miss that?'”
The couple won the top prize on a $20 Super Set for Life Scratch’N Win ticket—their options: $100,000 a year for 20 years or a lump sum of $1.5 million.
Clint and Pat opted for the lump sum, and while at an event to claim their big cheque, the couple shared their plans for their winnings: they’re going to buy a new vehicle and pay for their children’s mortgages.
The lovebirds also said they’ll be going on a European river cruise.
“It started to become more real when I told my family”
BCLC
Vancouver resident Joyce Preston was at home when she was playing her $10 X Scratch & Win ticket.
“I looked at the matching number, and it said $1 million!” she recalled.
“First, I was in shock and disbelief, but eventually, it became more real when I told my family,” said Preston.
She told her daughter first, who screamed and yelled, “Oh my god, a million!”
Preston said she’ll use her winnings to go on a vacation with friends and use her windfall to help her grandchildren with their studies.
“At first, we thought we won $1,000”
OLG
Clayton Morris and Josephine Nibbering have been married for 33 years and live in Georgetown, Ontario. At the time of their big win, the pair had something big to look forward to — the birth of their first grandchild.
The couple were home when Nibbering scanned their Lotto 6/49 ticket and was shocked that they’d won.
“My phone made the winning sound, and we jumped up and down,” Nibbering said. “At first, we thought we won $1,000!”
But it wasn’t $1,000 — they won $1 million.
“It’s life-changing,” said Morris, who said that the win gives them an added sense of security for their retirement.
“It’s a feeling you never expect to experience,” Nibbering said.
They plan to put their money towards their retirement, as well as manage their finances and go on vacation. But the happy couple is more excited about what they can do for their first grandbaby — providing their grandchild with all the security they can.
With files from Sarah Anderson