7 best Edmonton lucky lottery stories of 2023

As we inch closer to closing the year that was 2023, we thought we would celebrate some of the best Edmonton lottery winners’ stories.

The winners are all from Edmonton and the surrounding area, showing that lucky tickets can be scored in YEG and its surrounding communities.

From a man who waited six months before claiming his prize to others who are keeping their windfall stored someplace safe, here are four lucky lottery winners announced in Edmonton in 2023.

Jesse Malofe – $100,000

A lottery winner in Alberta plans to keep his job, take it easy, and live comfortably after scoring $100,000 earlier this year. Jesse Malofe netted the money after he added the Extra to his ticket, with the $1 addition winning him $100,000 after he matched the last six digits to the winning Extra number – 5186825.

“It was the happiest day of my life,” Malofe told the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) while claiming his prize.

Georgina Ross – $109,239.49

Georgina Ross from St. Albert matched five of the six winning numbers on the February 1 Lotto 6/49 draw, resulting in a cool $109,239.49 win. She bought her ticket from a Circle K in Edmonton just hours before the draw. A few days later, she was with her daughter, who asked to scan her ticket.

“I was shocked,” she said when her daughter informed her she had a winning ticket.

At the time, Ross said she had plans to hold onto her windfall for safekeeping.

“I’m going to put it in the bank.”

Andrew Naylor – $1 million

A trip to the United Kingdom and a new roof for the house are just a few things an Edmonton man has planned after discovering he won over $1,000,000 in a lotto game this year. Andrew Naylor bought his winning Lotto 6/49 ticket from the Nisku Truck Stop in Leduc. When he scanned the ticket on October 28, he was stunned by the amount of zeroes on the screen.

“At first, I thought I won $1,000,” he explained in his prize claim interview. “But there were too many zeroes for that. I thought, “$100,000? No, I’m not that lucky.'”

Holiday and new roof aside, Naylor has other ideas for his windfall, including settling a few bills.

Patricia Melnyk – $250,000

A lottery winner outside Edmonton plans to share her $250,000 windfall with her family.

“I was so surprised,” she told the WCLC earlier this year. “It was a huge shock, but a great shock!”

The winner said she called her son shortly after learning what she had won, and he had a similar reaction.

Ruth Bowes – $35 million

An Edmonton woman became the city’s fourth-biggest lottery winner ever after netting a massive $35 million windfall earlier this year. Ruth Bowes is the lucky winner of half of a $70 million Lotto Max jackpot from a draw earlier this summer.

The July 25 draw resulted in two people buying tickets that matched the winning numbers 15, 16, 17, 18, 43, 44, 48, and bonus number 50. (Seriously though, what are the odds?!)

One ticket was sold in Kamloops, BC. At the same time, the other was purchased by Bowes in Edmonton.

Nassim Fattouh – $50 million

When Canada’s newest lotto multimillionaire was revealed, the lucky lotto winner said he was too shocked to figure out what to do with his massive windfall. Edmonton’s Nassim Fattouh won the September 5 Lotto Max draw, which saw him net an enormous $50 million prize. Fattouh usually picks up a Lotto Max ticket whenever he stops for gas, but he was shocked when he scanned his ticket in-store.

“I brought my ticket to the store and scanned it on the self-checker,” he said at his prize claim interview. “I saw all the zeroes on the screen and said to the clerk, ‘Something’s wrong. The machine is not working.'”

“I scanned the ticket again, and the same thing happened,” he continued. “I took the ticket to the clerk, and her machine made all sorts of sounds – that’s when I lost my mind!”

Semy Raja – $1 million

A lottery winner in Edmonton waited for half a year before stepping up and claiming his prize due to wanting to get a plan for when he got the cash.

Semy Raja stepped forward earlier this year to claim a $1 million Western Max prize he’s held on to since the June 21, 2022 draw. He won by exactly matching the winning numbers 22, 27, 32, 35, 40, and 47.

Raja discovered his win the day after the draw but told the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) he waited to claim his prize because he wanted to speak with a financial advisor to come up with a plan first.

“I’m going to take a holiday, and the rest I’ll invest for the future,” he explained.

“It feels unreal when you see all those zeroes.”