Couple loses 'lucky' lottery numbers, wins $27 million
Posted: 5/27/2008 11:06:00 AM
Etobicoke couple win fortune with a set of Quick Pick numbers
Liz and Doug Kinsman of Etobicoke have a Friday night ritual and it won them $27 million.
It was just a Quick Pick. Just chance.
But it garnered them the big Super 7 lottery prize of $27 million — plus $10 extra on the ticket as a bonus number.
"We feel fantastic ... we're kind of numb still," Doug Kinsman said today.
"It's the magnitude. A million or $2 million is one thing but $27 million ... it hasn't sunk in yet," Kinsman said.
It's the 10th largest Lotto Super 7 jackpot won since the game was established in 1994, according to the Ontario Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
The Kinsmans bought two Quick Pick tickets last Friday night. And the second one got them a free Super 7 ticket that they just found out about today.
The Etobicoke couple, married 39 years, have been playing Super 7 every week for 10 years. They always used the same numbers — until last year, when they lost them (they didn't say how).
Kinsman said that was chance too. If they hadn't lost those numbers and played Quick Pick, they might not have won the big prize, he said.
And, as usual on Sundays, the couple looked for the winning numbers in the Star. "We plunked right down in the den. He reads out the numbers and I circle them," Liz said. "There were a lot of circles," she said, on finding they'd won.
But they still couldn't believe their good fortune.
They were so incredulous that they checked their numbers at two different locations, getting the same winning answer at both.
"Then we called the children," Liz said.
The couple tossed and turned all night, they were so excited.
They even checked their numbers a third time on their way over to claim their prize at the lottery center today.
The Kinsmans have a short wish list so far.
Kinsman, who sells high-end cottages on lakes Muskoka, Rosseau and Joseph, and his wife who works in insurance don't have any major changes planned yet. For now, they'll put the money in a short term interest account "and then decide," said Kinsman.
"I'm not going to quit work. I love it ... I'd do it for nothing," he said.
Selling cottages on the lake "there's nothing like it. You're with clients. Why would anybody quit that job," he laughs.
The "number one" thing they'll do is take the family — a grown son and daughter — and possible significant others, on a Caribbean cruise. And the couple, who take a 10-day cruise together each December on their own, plan on looking for that cruise this afternoon, the couple told reporters at Lottery headquarters on Dundas St. today.
They are toying with the idea of getting a bigger summer cottage with some of the money or they may make some additions to the Lake Muskoka cottage they already own. Oh, and there might be a new car.
But the cagey Kinsmans won't say what make or model they'd like for fear they'll be bombarded by car dealers wanting to make a sale. "There's a lot of car dealers who are going to be calling us ... and we're not going to be getting a good deal," he said.
They also plan on giving back — through charity for epilepsy, because their son, now in his 20s, is an epileptic — and also to St. Michael's Hospital, said Liz.
As for short term plans, they're hoping to get some sleep tonight, now that that they've claimed their prize.
Doug and Liz Kinsman show off their Lotto Super 7 jackpot check for $27 million May 26.
Source: Toronto Star
