Canadian planning Africa trip after $5-million lottery win
One Canadian woman is now a multimillionaire after a huge Lotto 6/49 win, and she’s celebrating with extravagant travel plans.
Denise Berube of Saint-André, N.B., is no stranger to the lottery. For the past 30 years, she’s been playing Lotto 6/49 with the same set of numbers: a combination of a birthday, a jersey number she wore in high school, and the age at which she had planned to retire.
Berube recalled how she checked her ticket after buying a ticket for the March 26 draw.
“I went on the website and saw I had a winner, and when I opened the ticket, I saw all those zeros, so I looked at the numbers, and they were really my numbers,” said the surprised winner. “I went to the winning numbers to confirm again that those were my numbers, and I was in shock. I said, ‘Oh my God, I won the lotto.'”
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Berube’s numbers finally brought her luck: she had matched the Lotto 6/49 Classic Draw numbers 09, 13, 25, 30, 45, and 49, winning the $5-million prize.
“I’ve been playing Lotto 6/49 for a very long time, always with the same numbers that I chose a long time ago because they each had a significance,” Berube shared while at the Atlantic Lottery headquarters. “Some numbers, I do still remember why I picked them, but a few others, I don’t remember why. It’s been that long that I’ve been playing the same numbers.”
And while she may have missed her goal retirement age (she finally retired last summer), her big win means she can enjoy a much more cushy retirement. Berube said she plans to celebrate her life-changing win by taking her husband and sister on a trip to Africa.
She purchased her winning Lotto 6/49 ticket on alc.ca.
All forms of gambling, including the lottery, involve risk and outcomes are based on chance. Individuals are strongly advised to gamble responsibly. If you are experiencing any signs of gambling-related issues, check out these resources.