Alberta lottery winner plans to use Lotto Max prize towards a vacation in Mexico
A lottery winner in northern Alberta plans to put some of his winnings towards a vacation to Mexico and escape the province’s chilly spring weather for a bit.
Danny Gauthier says he got a bit of a shock when he scanned his Lotto Max ticket and discovered he had won $100,000 on the September 8 Extra draw.
“I was sitting in my truck and thought I would check the ticket,” he explained to the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) at his prize claim interview.
“I saw the number come up and said, ‘Holy crap!’”
The Plamondon local said he had to scan the ticket on the Lotto Spot app a few times before
he started believing what he was seeing.
“I really couldn’t believe it,” he laughed. “My wife couldn’t believe it either. She actually didn’t believe me until I showed her the app screen.”
“I honestly never thought I would win a prize this large,” he continued. “It’s just unreal and
terrific, but so surreal.”
The winner said he and his wife have two main plans for their windfall: bill payments and saving for a vacation in the new year.
“We’re going to Mexico in the spring,” he said. “Some of the money will go toward our trip.”
Gauthier purchased his winning Lotto Max and Extra ticket at Castle Building Centres,
located at 106-14245 Highway 55 in Lac la Biche.
He won his prize by matching the last six digits of the Extra number drawn on September 8 – 1018245. His ticket also won a Lotto Max Free Play.
The WCLC says it’s been almost a decade since someone from Plamondon has won a major lottery prize — the last time a Plamondon resident took home a major prize was in 2014 when someone won a $79,427 Lotto 6/49 prize.