"We’re going to help a friend in need": Lottery winner excited to lend a hand

Stephen Pegler and his family and friends are getting amazing news at a much-needed time after he found out he was a lottery winner.

When the man from Okotoks, Alberta, discovered he won $5 million on Lotto 6/49 he knew where he wanted the money to go.

“We’re going to help a friend in need,” he said. “A friend of ours needs to travel to the
States for some medical tests; we’ll make it easier on the family.”

Pegler says the timing of this couldn’t be better.

“It’s been a tough couple of years,” said Pegler. “I feel like this is the universe kind of
making up for it, for us anyway.”

Pegler said he managed to stay calm after he checked his Lotto 6/49 ticket in-store
and saw he won $5 million. But the calm didn’t last for long.

“I scanned the ticket, saw all the zeroes on the screen, and quickly put the ticket in my
pocket,” he said. “The whole time I was thinking: ‘Stay calm. Don’t get excited – not
yet.’”

He made sure he double-checked before he let his mind run wild.

“When I got home, I checked my numbers on the website to make sure I had seen things
correctly,” he continued. “When I knew for sure, I told my wife. We both cried and
started to feel shaky – we were stunned and so happy.”

Along with helping a friend, this lottery winner said he and his wife will put some money toward retirement. They also hope to visit their daughter who lives in London, England.

The winning Lotto 6/49 ticket from a 7-Eleven in Okotoks. He won his prize by matching all six main numbers of the April 29.