A Brampton, Ont., man bought his wife a Lotto Max ticket for Mother’s Day, and now the couple are multi-millionaires.
Audrey and Wills W. have been playing the lottery for decades since moving to Canada from Jamaica.
“We came to Canada with nothing. We worked hard, learned to save, and never lived beyond our means,” Audrey said.
This past Mother’s Day, Wills purchased a Lotto Max Quick Pick ticket. When Audrey checked to see if they had won anything through the OLG app, she thought it was just $70.
“He glanced at it and said, ‘No — look again because there are so many zeros!’” Audrey told the gaming corporation. “When I realized it was $70 million, I was shocked. I had to double-check to make sure it was real.”
Once the realization sunk in, Audrey says she started jumping on the bed until she fell to her knees “overcome with joy.”
Before Audrey and Wills learned of their monumental windfall, their daughter had a sneaking suspicion that they had won after hearing the winning ticket was sold in Brampton.
“When we finally told her the news of the win, she smiled and said, ‘I knew it,’” Audrey recounted.
The couple says it still feels surreal that they are now millionaires. While they have dreamed of all the ways they would spend their winnings if they had ever scored a big prize, Audrey and Wills said they never anticipated to win a jackpot so large.
“I’m thinking about our future and our next steps, but it’s hard to make plans when this all feels like a dream,” Audrey said, adding that they are working with trusted advisors so they make the right decisions.
But they have some aspirations in mind.
Audrey says she wants to build her dream home in Jamaica, so they have a place where they can spend their winters. Wills plans to restore some vintage cars.
As a couple, they are looking to renovate their kitchen so they can create a space where their friends and family can come over together for home-cooked meals.
The husband and wife had just recently retired, and said this money will level-up their retirement plans, allowing them to live on their own terms. That includes more travel, with their sights set on cruises through the Caribbean Sea.
“As long as I have my wife, a nice home, and the sun is shining, everything is good,” Wills said.
The winning Lotto Max ticket was purchased at the Canco One Stop Gas Station on Steeles Avenue in Brampton.
