Beaumont Welder Wins $41.7m Lotto Max Jackpot
Like a story straight off the Hallmark Channel, when Cameron Blair, a
recently laid off welder from Beaumont in Alberta, Canada, bought a couple of
Lotto Max tickets to cheer himself up, little did he expect to win the $41.7
million jackpot.
Blair's story begins a few weeks ago after he was laid off from his welding job.
With no paycheck coming in, the 32-year-old did something out of character. He
bought a couple of lottery tickets after he saw the $41m Lotto Max jackpot
being advertised.
'If it wasn't for the fact that I got laid off, I may never have bought the
Lotto Max tickets,' Blair later told journalists. The Lotto Max draw was on
Friday, April 23 and the next morning while visiting his parents, he left his
unchecked lottery tickets on the kitchen table.
And it was while talking to his dad in another room that he heard a shriek
coming from the kitchen. Rushing to investigate, Blair found his mother
clutching his Lotto Max tickets. But before he could ask her what was wrong she
told him how much he'd just won.
'I checked it out and lo and behold I had seven of seven numbers. As of Saturday
morning, my life has changed,' said Blair. The windfall is the largest single
lottery jackpot in Alberta history. But despite its size, Blair has no intention
of becoming a 'beach bum.'
That's right. Even though Blair doesn't have to lift another finger as long as he lives, he intends to return to school next semester to earn his journeyman ticket and continue working as a welder. Before then, however, he said he would like to visit his roots in Scotland.
Blair won $41,716,532.70, the 8th biggest Canadian lottery jackpot since 1982. However, Canada's biggest ever lottery jackpot remains $54.2 million, which was won by a group of co-workers in 2005.
