Lotto 649 Winner Has 20 Million Reasons to Quit Job
Everybody loves a rags to riches story, and although recent Canadian Lotto
6-49 jackpot winners William Rollings and Bonnie Preece were not exactly in
rags, 49-year-old Preece's bank balance had less than $90 in it the day she and
her husband won their $20.6-million 6-49 lottery windfall.
Preece, a part-time cashier in London, Ontario could not believe her luck when a
Lotto 6-49 turned out to be one of two jackpot winning tickets. And while the
identity of the other $20.6-million winner is still unknown, Preece had no
problem dragging Rollings, her second husband, with her into the limelight.
Said the still-stunned Lotto 6-49 winner at the check handover, 'For me,
I can't grasp this kind of money. My savings account was $80.17. I think it's
going to be a little bit more than that now.' Ironically, Preece admitted that
she rarely plays the lottery, but did last Saturday on account of the size of
the jackpot.
As it turns out, that decision will probably be best one she has ever made in
her life. But there was a little confusion about whether her Lotto 6-49 tickets
was in fact a winner. On Sunday after checking her ticket, Preece thought she
only had three right numbers, but a call to her sister confirmed she had all
six.
Her husband takes up the story. 'I told her to sit down and take a coffee. And it was euphoria after that.' At the handover, 57-year-old Rollings gently wiped a tear from his wife's eye as photographers snapped away at the deserving couple clutching their super-sized check made out for a cool $20.6-million.
And there is even a final twist to this tale. According to Preece, her first marriage ended in a divorce that her left financially devastated and very bitter towards her ex-husband, which is why when answering a journalist's question of what she would like to say to her ex now, she calmly said, 'sucks to be you.'
The lucky Lotto 6-49 jackpot winner revealed that following her divorce she was forced to declare bankruptcy and could not even get a credit card. As a result she had been stuck in a job earning just $12.30 an hour. But those days are behind Preece and for her and her husband it's champagne and caviar time.
