"Scared" by unexpected meeting, coworkers learn they won the lottery
A group of coworkers expecting some bad news were stunned to learn that they had in fact won the lottery.
The group, which comprises 26 members from Ontario, often opt to play the lottery together. One day, Ernesto Diaz Herryman, a Hamilton resident, decided to use his phone to check the results of their ticket. And he couldn’t believe the amount he saw.
“I checked our ticket using theĀ OLG App and I didn’t believe all the zeroes,” recalled Diaz Herryman. So he immediately called the group for a meeting.
“Everyone was scared. They were wondering why I called them,” he recalled. “When I shared the big news, they were so excited and told their families right away.”
Ernesto Diaz Herryman and Hiran Patel/OLG
They had won a Maxmillions prize worth $1 million in the May 31 Lotto Max draw. Split between 26, each one gets to take home $38,461.53.
While at the OLG Prize Centre to pick up their cheque, they said that they plan to celebrate their win as a group.
“This is so unusual and so rare,” said Hiran Patel, a Brampton resident. “I am so excited we beat the odds of winning!”
In addition to Diaz Herryman and Patel, the other 24 members include:
Christopher Cote of Mississauga
David Fox of Ancaster
Deepakkumar Prajapati of Mississauga
Fitzwilliam Ramsook of Milton
Gary Randall of Oakville
Gary St. Onge of Oakville
Gregory Hunter of Mississauga
Gregory May of Hamilton
Hanif Remani of Hamilton
Jacob Sherritt of Brantford
James Madley of Ancaster
John Happy of Oakville
John Taylor of Coldwater
John-Paul McGrath of Hamilton
Kevin Soy of North York
Matthew Konstantinou of Mount Hope
Nikeshkumar Babaria of Mississauga
Richard Groulx of Burlington
Sana Rouhani of Brechin
Selwyn Ramjohn of Mississauga
Shayne Coutto of Hamilton
Stephen Yonev of Stoney Creek
Svyatoslav Shchupak of Binbrook
Timothy Taylor of Hamilton
The winning ticket was purchased at Husky on King Street in Stoney Creek.