“We’re still astonished!”: 28 coworkers at Canadian university win massive lottery jackpot
Coworkers at a Canadian university are ending the workweek with a massive lottery win.
A group of 28 colleagues who have worked or still work at Université de Montréal beat the odds in the Lotto 6/49 September 20 draw to win the $5 million Classic Jackpot.
It was smiles all around as the winners, hailing from the Centre-du Québec, Laurentides, Montréal and Montérégie regions, met at the Loto-Québec head office to receive their share of the jackpot during a press conference.
#Lotto649 Le Gros lot classique de 5 M$ a été remporté par un groupe de 28 collègues qui travaillent ou ont travaillé @polymtl
Pour suivre la conférence de presse : https://t.co/DjSvkhyLr7 pic.twitter.com/giGHvfwjH1— Loto-Québec (@LotoQuebec) October 27, 2023
Diane Morneau heads the lucky lottery playing group, which was created around 10 years ago at the suggestion of her coworker, Caroline Soo.
“I want to play with you!” Soo had told Morneau, and that’s how “le groupe à Didi” came to be.
“Didi” herself is the one who checked the ticket and found out they won.
“Only after I scanned the ticket over 20 times did I realize it was well and truly $5 million,” she said. “We’re still astonished!”
Slowly but surely, news of the major lottery win started sinking in for other members of the group.
Aline Racine found out about the amazing news over the phone.
“Looks like we won, and we’ll be sharing $5,000,000,” a colleague told her before sending her a screenshot of the ticket.
Olivier St-Germain-Lavoie, another group member, was utterly surprised.
“My phone rang all the time that day. I was travelling, so I ignored the calls,” he said.
He found out about the lottery win through a videoconference.
“I thought it was a joke at first. But I was speechless when Caroline showed me the validation slip on-screen,” he added.
News of the major windfall made the rounds very quickly at the office. Soo was thrilled to be there in person to celebrate with the rest of the group.
The 28 winners each get $178,571 of the $5 million lottery jackpot.
Each coworker has big plans for the prize, including spoiling their children, home renovations, and, of course, travel.
Morneau wants to travel around Québec and Soo plans to take a trip to Portugal.
If you want to feel the elation that le groupe à Didi felt after their win, make sure to check your lottery tickets!
A Canadian player woke up a million dollars richer after a successful draw on Wednesday night.
The next Lotto 6/49 draw is on Saturday, October 28, with a gold ball jackpot of $26 million.