Six years ago Randall Rush was at a friend's house watching a football game when a series of numbers flashed into his head.
His friend told Rush to write down the numbers, and when he took a look, he thought they would make for good lottery picks. But the 48-year-old was skeptical — he never played the lottery.
"He goes: 'If you didn't play and these numbers come up, how would you feel?'" said Rush.
Ever since that fateful day, the resident of Lamont, Alberta, has picked the same numbers when purchasing lottery tickets once a week.
Last weekend, it finally paid off. Rush found out he was the winner of the $50-million Lotto Max prize.
"Seriously this sounds fabricated, this sounds hokey, but it is the honest-to-God truth," he said at a press conference on Friday, where he was awarded his winnings.
"It was a shock I won so much... but at the same time I was expecting it," he added.
Rush, who worked as a sales representative for Hertz Equipment Rental, said in the last two years he had a growing premonition that he was going to win.
"Again, it sounds hokey but for the last two years I didn't think I was going to win — I knew I was going to win."
The Vancouver native was so confident that he started planning for his eventual jackpot. But Rush wasn't planning to buy a fancy home or a fleet of flashy cars.
He says that winning the lottery comes with a burden of responsibility.
"To whom much is given, much is required," he said.
Rush has planned to dedicate his life to a new charitable organization that will focus on feeding hungry and homeless children across the world.
While he says he will look after a close circle of friends and purchase a few toys, including a 1965 Corvette for the self-described "car nut," he says the "vast majority" of his winnings will be placed in a trust. The interest generated from the account will be funnelled into his charity.
"This money can go a long way in foreign countries, so if I could make someone's life a little happier — that would be great," he said.
Besides his philanthropic goals, Rush says it is about time he paid off a long-overdue parking ticket that he received in Moncton, N.B.
"I've been putting that off forever and ever — it is on the front of my fridge — and I'm like, 'Ugh, next paycheck, ugh next paycheck.' And now I have no excuses," he said.
"I just hope they don't come looking for me now," he said with a laugh.
Rush also plans to look after his cat Conway Kitty, named after the country music star Conway Twitty. It was on Rush's trip to the grocery store for cat food last weekend, when he found out he had won the $50-million prize.
"He was sleeping, and he gave me the one eye, 'Oh I disturbed your royal snooze, eh?'" Rush said.
"He's a big fan of pate, so I think we'll stick to that program," he added.
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
Thanks to deeharveyd for the tip.
Pay that traffic ticket!
Whether its a quick pick, wheeling system, psychic vision or last minute impulse buy, who cares? IT WORKED. That's all that matters
Congrats!
He seems like a nice guy with a good sense of humor. Enjoy your winnings, Mr Randall!
I like this guy. Conway kitty...lol. He will do a lot of good with that money but buying fancy cars for friends is not a good idea.
Nice vision, eh.
Q: If I win a major prize, do I need to have my picture taken?
A: Yes. Under WCLC Rules and Regulations, the Corporation has no obligation to pay a prize unless the winner gives WCLC the right to publish the winner's name, city or town of residence and/or recent photograph. Names and photographs of major lottery winners are publicized to protect the integrity of the games – it verifies that prizes are won and shows that winners come from every walk of life.
Western Canada Lottery Corporation
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are lottery winnings taxable?
A: No. All cash and merchandise prizes paid by WCLC are tax-free within Canada. However, prizes with an annuity option may have tax implications if the annuitey is selected.
Western Canada Lottery Corporation
Frequently Asked Questions
The close circle of friends should include his cat.
Leave it all to your cat in the will!
Congrats to Randall on his big win!
Great story! Congrats!
Coincidences happen all the time.
I've heard that the lotteries in Canada and the European countries are all tax free. You win a jackpot of $50 million, you get $50 million. No taxes at all. Here in the United States the taxman steals a large chunk; or threatens to place you in prison if you don't.
Sounds like this winner is heading in a healthy direction for the most part.
You are correct. Keep in mind though that in Canada you will never read about a $564 million jackpot. They have caps, and it takes more than a dollar or two to buy into the lottery dream each drawing.
CONGRATS ON THE SERENDIPITY OF LIVING YOUR DREAM
FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT
EDDESSAKNIGHT
Nice! Congrats!
Yes, he will have lots of new "friends", many of whom may turn out to be vultures!
I agree.
To Think: If someone had some dodgy kinfolk, I think the best thing to do would be to tell them his/her cat was going to inherit the estate and after the cat passed, the rest would go to a charity.
Conway Twitty: That was his stage name, his real one being Harold Jenkins. He supposedly came up with Conway Twitty after looking at a map and seeing Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. A lot of people around here think he got "Conway" from a little tourist trap and truck stop on I-40 just east of Amarillo, because Twitty is not far away from there (or where I live) Twitty is literally just a spot in the road on Hwy 83. (which is one of the longest north/south hwys. in the U.S.) There never have been many people live there in my lifetime, but there used to be a gas pipeline booster station there when I played ball at nearby small towns and when I worked on drilling rigs in the area, there was a gas station/country store, a feed store and mill and a cotton gin. Looking at it on Google Earth street view, the stores are closed, the mill looks to be almost falling down and only a few houses remain.
My aunt and uncle invested in a song (paying the studio costs) that Twitty recorded, but never released. That was back in the 60's and my uncle is still annoyed over that.
Very interesting, What ever works, even if "it sounds hokey" .
Not to change the subject, but saw on the California website the person who got 5 numbers in Powerball only gets $293,000.00 (and some change). That is why I don't like para-mutuel payouts. they were short changed some $700,000!!
#ConwayKitty #$50M #CatFood #Winnin'
Congratulation Mr. Randall
I wish this was the " vision Year". In one of my posts last week l mentioned " it's my part and l will cry if l want to" ( way before my time) .. Only to read that the Singer died yesterday., Sad, but a vision nonetheless..
Once you feed all the starving children around the world with your 50 million dollars, you'll be lucky if you have 50 cents left. Da! The man has good intentions, but it's a bad idea. Da! Easy come, easy go. Da! Now you see it, now you don't. Da! How else can we make him look stupid? Da! Maybe we should buy him a cowboy hat so he can be like that guy who lost even bigger millions back in 2005. Da,
I think the idea is to help the charities with the interest that is earned, preserving the principal millions.
I think you right..
In 2002 Jack Whittitger won 115 million after taxes and gave most of it away and soon became broke. Da! Maybe you should wait six months , you know, look before you leap, so you don't end up like poor old Jack Whittitger. Da! Once you get into woulda, coulda, shoulda territory it's too late. Da! Better to be safe than sorry, you know what I mean? Da!
If I ever win, that's what I plan to do, create a non-operating private charitable foundation. There are tax advantages, but also some obligations and limitations to a foundation; the IRS levies an annual 2% excise tax on all investment income generated by the foundation and the foundation is required to distribute at least 5% of its investment assets in any given year. There can be fines if those two and other stipulations aren't met, but shouldn't be any problem as long as the trustees/board members are above-board with the foundation's money.
Bad idea. It will just put the cat in harm's way. There is a story of a deceased man who left most of his fortune to his pet after he died, and then the pet died under mysterious circumstances shortly after. Probably poisoned by the jealous relatives.
When someone, like Movie Star Tom Hanks for example, who used to be a poor starving actor when he was young accumulated 400million dollars over the last thirty years, he doesn't feel guilty about having all those millions of dollars. He's not going to spend most of his fortune feeding all the starving children of the world. It's a psychological thing. I know that if I won I'd be giving all my brothers a million dollars each, and my children a million each, etc. Do you get my point? I worked with a guy, Victor who's sister married Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond). Ray is worth 125 million dollars. Do you think Ray would offer to give Victor a million or two? Nope! So stop feeling guilty when you win the lottery and suddenly have a ton of money.
Well, sanman$, if you are a U.S.A. citizen, our "Gifting" to each person is $14K/year limit. Anything over that gets taxed at the biggest percentage rate! Consequently, perhaps you could generously give each of these people that $14K/year, PLUS purchase a 4-unit apartment building (ownership always 100% in your own name/LLC/your trust's name) for each one to manage while living in one of the units, instead.
Woo, the slow-burn, six-year burning achievement vision set and followed by devoted action!
"To whom much is given, much is required," he said.
When I first read that I was thinking how true "To whom ever win the jackpot, buying many tickets is required".
I worked with Sergio Martini who won 10.3 million dollars on January 6, 1996 playing Powerball. He didn't give any money to charity. Ten of his sanitation co-workers, myself included would give him one dollar to buy each of us a Powerball ticket because he lived in Brewster, New York which is near Connecticut and we didn't. He used to give us our tickets one or two days after the drawing, and no one ever complained to him about it. The day he one, one of the guys didn't get a ticket. Very suspicious if you ask me. After he won he talked to a lawyer. He kept working for a year and a half in order to get a fifteen year pension. He took the 10.3 million over twenty years. The annuity. He bought a $ 750,000.00 home in Brewster, rented out his old home, bought a gas station and put his two sons to work there. He use to look for Marlboro miles in the garbage and continued to do so even after becoming a millionaire.I guess old habits die hard. And when his mother died he still asked everyone for five bucks. We still continued to play the Powerball lottery with him but get this, now he gave us our tickets a day or two before the drawing! Like he should have been doing all along. He told us that he used to get letters from people from all over the world begging him for money. I guess they didn't know that he was such a cheapskate. And he continued to play the lottery, only now he bought a plié of tickets. He used to gamble on everything. He used to drive his brother's taxi cab on weekends to make extra gambling money. They were about to take his house away and then he won the lottery.
So What Does This Have To Do With This??
$50M Canada lotto winner says he had a vision of winning numbers
Enough Already
LottoBux, I think he/she was responding to the comment above his/hers --from member RJOh. He was stating how apparently 'much was expected' from this lottery jackpot winner; yet little was received from him. It was an interesting 'live experience' response to the quote in this article. Noting that even none sharers have won lottery jackpots.
Precisely. Thank you. You took the words right out of my mouth and said it so eloquently. That guy Martini was a cheap skate. Pure and simple. Big time. Getting him to financially help all of the starving children of the world would be like trying to get blood from a stone. Martini used to bring his household garbage to the sanitation garage & throw it in the back of a garbage truck, because where he lived in Brewster New York they would charge you twenty-five dollars to pick up your garbage. When he was working he used to look through the big black garbage bags for Marlboro miles. And after he won the Powerball lottery, he would also buy them from homeless people. He was a real piece of work.
I believe him, well said and well done!!