What are the chances: Two lottery winners live in the same town and got tickets just days apart
In a stroke of wild luck, two lottery winners from a small town in Alberta bought their tickets just days apart, winning a lovely $100,000 each.
Kenneth Novotney and Ronald Klinger, both from Ponoka, snagged their winning tickets days apart in the town of just over 7,000.
The first of the two, Novotney recalled to the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) the moment he saw a number with a bunch of zeroes show up on a local lottery retailer’s ticket checker.
“I said to the store clerk, ‘Hey, I won some money,” Novotney recalled. “He scanned my ticket and said, ‘Yeah, you did! But I don’t have enough money to pay you that,” he added.
Novotney called his wife after he finished fuelling his vehicle. “She was super excited for me,” he said.
The happy winner has a few plans for his windfall, including paying some bills and putting money down on his mortgage.
Novotney purchased his ticket from the Reddi Mart at 4509 39 Avenue in Ponoka on November 23.
He won by matching the last six digits of the winning Extra number for the November 25 Lotto Max draw – 5870603.
Ponoka’s other new lottery winner, Ronald Klinger, took home the second-highest Extra prize for the November 30 Lotto 6/49 draw.
Klinger picked up his ticket from Husky at 5702 Highway 2A in Ponoka on the day of the draw.
He discovered his win the next morning when he scanned his ticket using the same store’s self-checker.
“It was hard to see the zeroes,” Klinger told the WCLC as he claimed his prize.
Klinger scanned his ticket one more time before sharing the good news with his parents, and he plans to pay some bills and relax thanks to his windfall.
He won by matching the last six digits of the winning EXTRA number – 1577858.
“The pressure is off,” he said. “It’s nice not having to worry about money.”
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