Lottery winner had a wild week as baby was born two days after big win

A lottery winner in Saskatchewan had one heck of a busy week, winning a wicked $1 million dollars and then welcoming a baby girl into the world two days later.

“I finally got to sleep last night,” Stacey Lamothe told the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) while picking up his cheque. “I wasn’t sleeping right after I won or right after the baby was born.”

Over a week after the draw, the Meadow Lake resident returned to the same store to check his tickets.

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He said that after scanning his first ticket – a non-winner – his next ticket revealed his $1 million prize. Lamothe didn’t believe what he was seeing so he put it at the bottom of the pile and continued right on scanning.

His next ticket was a $2 winner. “That’s more like it,” he told the WCLC he said to himself, noting while claiming his prize later that the amount “seemed much more realistic” to him.

He scanned his $1 million winning ticket again and still couldn’t believe it, so he called over a friend and said “I think this machine is crazy!” The two of them proceeded to scan his ticket a couple more times.

“My friend told me, ‘You won a million dollars!’” Lamothe recalled; however, he still couldn’t believe what he was seeing, so he brought his ticket to the cashier.

Once his win was confirmed using the cashier’s terminal, things started to sink in and he called his wife to share the news.

When she told him that she was coming into town right away, he says he asked her “what for?” and noted it wasn’t like the windfall was coming out of the machine.

Lamothe said he has a few plans for his winnings, including finishing building his house and taking his kids to Vancouver.

He also added that he’s looking forward to purchasing a new vehicle.

Lamothe’s winning ticket matched all seven digits —1, 16, 17, 22, 36, 40 and 48— to one of the Maxmillions prizes drawn on the October 14 Lotto Max draw. He purchased his ticket a couple of days prior to the draw at the Fas Gas at 216 9th Avenue W in Meadow Lake.