"There were more zeroes than usual": 27 friends from BC and Ontario win the lottery

Dec 8 2022, 9:00 am

The next reunion for this group of lottery winners will surely be an unforgettable one.

The group is made up of 27 friends who live in northern Ontario and British Columbia. And for 10 years, they’ve been trying their luck together by playing the lottery as a team.

“We play Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 twice a week,” said group leader and Timmins resident Sylvie Bureau. “I checked the ticket and thought we won $1,000 and was very happy.”

But when she looked at the results again, something didn’t quite add up.

“I kept looking at the number and realized there were way more zeroes than usual,” she recalled. “I woke up my husband so he could check too, and he couldn’t believe his eyes!”

It turns out that their prize actually had a few more zeroes than she initially thought.

lottery

After matching all seven Encore numbers in exact order in the August 6 Lotto 6/49 draw, the group won $1 million. Split between 27, that’s around $37,000 each.

“I quickly grabbed my phone and googled ‘How many zeroes are in one million,'” Bureau said, laughing.

Bureau didn’t waste time calling her friends.

“My husband and I started calling all the group members at 5 am ā€“ it was one of my favourite phone calls ever,” she recalled, while at the OLG Prize Centre to collect the cheque with some of the group members.

Bureau will be using her winnings to pay off some bills and putting the rest towards home renovations.

And the group plans to commemorate the occasion in a rather special way.

“We will order a cake with a 6/49 sign as a memory,” she said.

The winning ticket was purchased at Canadian Tire Gas Bar on Waterloo Road in Timmins.

In addition to Bureau, the other members include Timmins residents Alain Desrosiers, Annette Madore, Carole Bushey, Chantal Desrosiers, Danny Deschatelets, Kayla Bureau, Kristopher Cecconi, Laurent Madore, Mario Tambeau, Nancy Calderwood, Natasha Bureau, Patricia Mann, Rachelle Vaillancourt, Shannon Saindon, Steve Bureau, and Yves Pilon; Val Caron residents Anita Constantin and Marc Landry; Sudbury residents Bradley Augustin and Mary Bureau; South Porcupine residents Eric Warnes and Darrin White; Denis Gilbert from Connaught; Robert Parta from Schumacher; Rachelle Labelle from Connaught; and Duane Lowe from Mile House, BC.

Irish Mae SilvestreIrish Mae Silvestre

+ News
+ Canada
+ Lottery
+ Canada
ADVERTISEMENT