"I’m not quite there": Lottery winner says no to retirement after big win

A lottery winner in Manitoba says he has no plans to retire just yet, despite netting a cool $1 million in a Western Max draw last month.

Edilberto Malabanan of Winnipeg won $1 million on the August 11 Western Max draw, but he didn’t know what he had won for hours.

Malabanan purchased his ticket on PlayNow and the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) says when a prize is won on a PlayNow ticket, the player will receive a courtesy email letting them know they’ve won a prize.

“I got an email the morning after the draw telling me I won a prize,” he told the WCLC in a news release. “I assumed it was a much smaller prize, but it was not!”

Malabanan said when he finally learned his prize amount, he couldn’t believe it.

“I was so excited,” he said. “I texted my daughter to let her know – she was excited, too. It was quite a shock!”

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The winner said he has one main plan for his windfall.

“I’m going to share the prize with my family,” he said. “My wife would like for me to retire, but I’m not quite there. Not yet.”

Malabanan won his million-dollar Western Max prize on a free play ticket he won on a
previous draw. His million-dollar-winning numbers were 12, 14,17, 20, 29, 37 and 39.