Come By Chance, Newfoundland is home to the refinery where 31 workers pooled their money to buy a winning lottery ticket.
$60,000,000 (Cdn) is the biggest jackpot ever won in Atlantic Lottery Corporation history.
It works out to $1.9 million each.
“I had a $60-million ticket in my hand and I was afraid to lay it down”
CBC News, in reporting on the event, noted that among the winners are a husband and wife, father and son and identical twin brothers.
The winning Lotto Max ticket was purchased at a gas station last week, in Holyrood, Newfoundland.
Eugene Lewis gives an interview as a child throws confetti behind him. “When I woke up that morning, I just thought it was a joke,” he said. “I couldn’t really believe it.” (CBC)
All the winners are members of the Boilermakers Local 203 trade union at the refinery.
Only five of the workers have retired so far, others still feel committed to the job.
“I got the richest crew in the country,” Lee Hickey joked as he and the other winners, all in matching black T-shirts, gathered on stage for a photo yesterday.
Sherry Moore Hickey, Lee’s wife and co-worker described the realization: “I had a $60-million ticket in my hand and I was afraid to lay it down. I was afraid to walk away from it,”
The town mayor, Owen Mahoney, said the win astounded the coastal community, where so many residents go to western Canada for work in construction.
“We can’t believe this happened to our area and to see this happen in a small town in Newfoundland is great,” he said earlier in the week.
“It will definitely benefit us – that’s no doubt. We’re on the map right now!”
One person is disputing the win, but the money has been set aside and a judge will make the final decision.
The odds of winning a Lotto Max jackpot are about one in 28.6 million according to the Atlantic Lotto Corporation.
(With files from the CBC and The Globe and Mail)
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