Paying off mortgages, buying sports cars, travel and retirement – they’re just some of the things the 18 men who won last week’s $20 million Lotto Max jackpot have planned for their portion of the winnings.
The 18 steamfitters, welders and pipefitters from Edmonton Exchanger discovered they had the winning numbers Saturday – after one of the group members checked the numbers.
Jean Gauthier said he’d checked his photocopy of their ticket that morning, and knew there was a win – so he called the group trustee, Paul Furlong.
“Jean phoned me and said, ‘Have you checked the tickets yet? I think we’ve got something’,” Furlong said in a press release.
Furlong then checked the tickets at the store using the self-checker – he said he first thought they had won about $200,000, before he had the retailer check the ticket to confirm.
There, he found the ticket had actually won $20,037,170.60.
Once he found out, Furlong said he started contacting the seventeen other people in the group to share the news.
“I called Jean back by saying, ‘We won!’ and he said, ‘I know,’ and I said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Jean said, ‘I didn’t want you to get too excited’,” Furlong said.
The group said about six of them plan to retire with their winnings, the rest plan to spend the money on their mortgages, buying sports cars and travelling.
They went in together on several tickets, $180 worth – the winning ticket was bought from the Yellowhead Petro Canada.
The group members hail from Edmonton, Sherwood Park, Leduc, Elk Point, Morinville, Beaumont and St. Albert and include: Paul Furlong, John Morash, Brian Penner, David Musica, Fred Hradoway, Bernie Douglass, Robert Roy, Jean Gauthier, Kelly Walker, Larry Ziegler, Gary Garside, Vello Talviste, Pat Bowen, Dallas Lennon, Wayne Dupas, Sherman Rowsell, Carlos Miranda and Rob Delaurier.
Each member will receive about $1.1 million.
