Lotto Max Winners Pick Up Check
Eight ecstatic co-workers from Yukon met this weekend to collect their $25 million check after their shared ticket won half of a Lotto Max jackpot draw from November 1st.
The eight will each receive around $3.1 million, while the other half of the $50 million was won by a family in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The winners are Glenda Benoit, Jovita Murphy, Shelley Shaw, Krista Pickett, Ron Meers and Craig McKinnon of Faro, Tracey Parkin from Ross River and Sukie Sidhu of Whitehorse.
This was the biggest lottery win from the Yukon region, with the previous record held by a Whitehorse resident who won $1 million through a Set for Life competition in 2005.
Confirming Lotto Max Win
The eight co-workers are employed by the Faro Mine Remediation Project which does work for the local zinc mine in the Faro, a town which boasts a population of just 345 people.
Craig McKinnon was the first one of the group to discover their windfall after checking the numbers online one day after the draw.
That night, the co-workers met at the store where they had collectively purchased the $6 Lotto Max Quick Pick ticket in order to confirm that they had, indeed, managed to guess all seven numbers. The lottery retailer confirmed for them that they had won half the $50 million Lotto Max prize.
Making Plans for Lottery Win
The eight co-workers from Faro have said that they will try and remain level headed about the Lotto Max win and not allow their newfound fortune to go to their heads.
While they all initially said that they planned to continue working for the same firm, McKinnon said later: "I want to golf 'til I die!"
Vancouver Family Also Claim $25m Lotto Win
On Friday, the winners of the other half of the $50 million Lotto Max ticket also claimed their check.
Morgan Harker and his family have big plans for their stunning win, including replacing their old couch and vacationing in Hawaii.
The Saanich resident remains pragmatic about his win and said that he would not be "going out to buy a hot air balloon or anything like that".
"I don't want to be one of those people you see out of the United States where it ruins people's lives," he said. "Obviously, it's life-changing and I like my life, so as much as possible I want to keep my life the same. But its going to afford a lot of opportunity and the gift of time as well."
Harker has been helped by the BC Lottery Corp through what he termed the "overwhelming" process of claiming the prize and navigating his way through media interviews.
