The Edmonton Eskimos presented a cheque for more than $400,000, won during the team’s game against the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday, July 14.
The team announced Quentin and Samantha Ebertz won the record $435,919,50 jackpot.
Eskimos President and CEO Len Rhodes described their story as ‘perfect’, and that wasn’t an exaggeration, as the sport that brought the couple a record-breaking windfall has played a role in their relationship from the start.
They met playing flag football, and they’ve had season tickets at Commonwealth Stadium since 2005.
“We ended up getting engaged on the field in the first week of September 2011, between the Labour Day game and the Labour Day rematch so it was, pretty fantastic,” Quentin said.
He said Friday’s game was just another routine outing for the couple.
“We get to the game, find the first line, buy a ticket, grab a pop, some popcorn, go sit down in our seats,” Quentin said.
The 50/50 jackpot for Friday’s game started with more than $82,000 – the amount was rolled over from a previous jackpot that went unclaimed.
“You look at the ticket probably 10, 15 times and compare it, and then I woke Samantha up and said: 'You need to come down and look at this cause I don’t know if I’m reading this right',” Quentin said.
The winnings are tax-free – and the family is working out exactly what to do with it.
“We do have a little bit of debt we need to pay off, and we’re going to do that first, we’re going to give each other a little bit of money too, just to have fun with, to be honest with you, and then we’ll go from there,” Quentin said.
The money raised in the draw will go towards supporting amateur football in Alberta.
With files from Jeremy Thompson
