Canadian home-care aide excited to retire after $18-million lottery win
A Canadian lottery player is all set for retirement after finding out that she had won a multimillion-dollar jackpot.
Cora Cuthbert is a Kisbey, Sask., local who calls Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation home. For years, Cuthbert has helped people as a home-care aide on reserve. One day, she stopped at a pharmacy to buy a Lotto 6/49 ticket.
While at work, she decided to check her ticket using the Lotto Spot app and was in disbelief when she saw that she had won. So she called over her coworkers one by one to confirm what she was seeing.
“I was like, ‘Whaaaat?!'” Cuthbert laughed. “My cousin jumped out of her chair and said, ‘Oh my God, you’re a millionaire!'”
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Together with her coworkers, she headed to the same pharmacy where she bought her ticket and scanned the ticket in-store.
“We got to the pharmacy, and the cashier was coming up an aisle. I showed her the ticket and said, ‘I think I won,’ and she said, ‘No way!'” recalled Cuthbert.
“She took the ticket and asked us if we were ready, and we all said, ‘Yes!’ Then she scanned it, and it came up on the screen. We all started screaming!”
Cuthbert had managed to match the Gold Ball winning numbers in the Lotto 6/49 draw on January 7, instantly becoming $18 million richer.
After years of working, she said, “I’m retiring, finally!”
It was also an emotional time for the new multimillionaire as she remembered her father, a regular Lotto 6/49 lottery player, who passed away in the summer of 2025.
“It took a couple of days before it started to hit me. Then I thought of my dad and started crying,” she said. “I remember my parents playing the lottery when I was a kid, and for most of my life, and now, I do. That’s the only reason I play.”
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She said she wants to use her winnings to help her brothers and siblings and plans to take them on a family weekend in Edmonton. Then, she’s going to Hawaii.
“I’m taking six ladies with me, and we’re going in the first-class [airline seat] pods — I’ve always wanted to sleep in a pod!” she said. “Hawaii has big pow wows, so we’re going to one together — we’ll get the full experience at least once!”
Cuthbert also wants to give back to her community by using her winnings to ensure that people have “better access to support and medical care on reserve.”
She purchased her winning Lotto 6/49 ticket from McKay’s Arcola Pharmacy located at 111 Main St. in Arcola.
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.