'I'm happy that the three of us get to share this... I don't know what I would have done with $50 million alone'
Three friends who have playing the lottery together for 17 years are now multi-millionaires, thanks to a Canada Lotto 6/49 jackpot win.
After a weekend away, Carmen Austria woke up early on Dec. 11, made coffee and checked her lottery tickets — a regular part of her morning routine, having played the lottery jointly with friends and former co-workers Gary Perkins and Catherine Wall for the past 17 years.
She hadn't heard that a Calgarian had won a yet-unclaimed Lotto 6/49 prize worth $50 million. But when she scanned the ticket in her Lotto Spot app, she got the message that everyone who buys a lottery ticket hopes for: "This appears to be a winner of $50 million."
She dragged her husband out of the shower and said, "Tell me I'm not reading this wrong."
"I won't tell you what he said, but he swore," she told media at a Wednesday news conference. "And he said, 'I'm retiring!' "
It was 6 a.m. when Austria checked the ticket, and her frantic phone calls to her lottery squad were met with quite different receptions.
"When you get those texts at 6:20 in the morning, you're thinking, 'Oh, no, what's happened? Something bad has happened,' " said Wall.
Perkins, on the other hand, was sound asleep when he got the call.
"Who would wake me up at 6:30 a.m.? So I didn't answer it," he said. "And then I picked my phone up and I started seeing these texts and this strange photograph of a Lotto Spot winners screen that says it appears you won $50 million. And I just didn't compute."
The trio of multimillionaires — who split the prize for a cool $16.6 million each — have been friends for two decades. They started buying tickets together in 2007 and said the best part about it is winning together.
"I'm happy that the three of us get to share this. It's a lot of money anyway, I mean, I don't know what I would have done with $50 million alone," said Austria.
"Don't get me wrong. I'd like $50 million. But, emotionally, (this is) more enriching," Perkins added.
Having had a couple of months to digest the news, the three still have a range of emotions about their new-found wealth. Austria went to visit family in Chile, Wall and her spouse retired as soon as possible, and Perkins was first in line at the Ford dealership as soon as the funds appeared in his bank account.
"I've been preparing for this for a long time," said Perkins.
They're thinking about going on a group vacation to celebrate, but the trio still plans to keep playing the lottery. They hope this gives some reassurance to other work or friend-based lottery pools that, yes, it is possible.
"If you have a ticket, you have a chance," said Perkins. "And you can dream about the things you might do. You don't have to believe it'll ever happen. But if you don't play, you don't have the dream."
Albertans have had some stellar lottery luck of late; AGLC board chair Len Rhodes says Albertans have claimed more than $330 million in major lottery wins since November 2022.
He said the Alberta winner of last month's $70 million Lotto Max draw has also come forward and news should be shared sometime this week.
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Thanks to Evan B. for the tip.
I know I will win the lottery someday because I have this special talent in the quote below all through my veins and from my bloodline up bringing teachings! I apply it everyday in life with my family! I truly believe in this saying!
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always be persistent in life. As long you have persistent defeat is only temporary"
Much better to do it this way if you are intent on splitting lottery ticket purchases with other people. I am vehemently against doing lottery pools at your job. Too many people in it for one thing and if you win it can result in the company losing all their employees in one swoop. Plus all the time wasted during the work day discussing the large pools plus the time one employee spends organizing and collecting the money. Bosses fume in their inner offices when their employees start one of those.
Great story. So happy to hear that they all won together and there is no infighting. They get to enjoy the rest of their life in pure bliss. I can't wait for this to happen for me.
I also think big job site lottery pools are risky, for many reasons including the ones you mentioned. It's better when you just have a small group of friends doing it on their own time, even if they do/did happen to work together. Congrats to this trio!
I totally agree with the quote.
I apply it in my life every single day.
I buy a lottery ticket every day.
I also put money in investments every week on Monday.
If the lotto doesn't come true, my investments will.
The quote is great, however, wisdom says don't put all your hopes on one thing aka don't put all your eggs in one basket 😉
Don't know about all that. I ran a pool at my job for 10 years. Had about 9 or 10 participants, including the store manager. They would come up to me, hand me money for the week. I would buy the tix on the way home. Take a picture with my phone and text it to people in the pool.
Well, if the 9 or 10 people in it were diligent enough to make sure they played it every week even when they went on vacation and had a willing organizer like you. But for which lottery. There is one every night of the week now. I find that difficult for these pool organizers to keep up with these days. Do you play Powerball or Mega Millions or only when it reaches a certain level. What if someone fails to put in and it hits. Do they get to cry in the corner of the office or do the rest of you vote them a share or a partial share. I find it strange that someone would every night of the week go to the trouble of keeping the list of those that put in and you purchasing the tickets and photo sending them to all the players on your phone. Wouldn't it be easier by the way to just seal them in an envelope and then open it the next day at work. No one needs to know until then anyway and it would save you time. Sorry, but you said you did it in the past when there were less lottery draws or how long ago was it.
Same people every week, twice a week. Gave me money on Monday for 2 draws that week. A couple gave me enough for several draws. Not talking hundreds of dollars here.
It was never the ordeal youre making it out to be.
A tight knit group of people working in a store is very unusual. Not hundreds but 160.00-180.00 a month your crew was pumping into it.
Huh??
$10 a draw....8 or 9 draws a month.
It was tight knit. Played Texas Lotto unless Mega or Powerball got crazy.
You werent there so.....you dont know
Hahaha looks like you've just opened up an investigation.
What's the case number again??
😁😁😁😁😁😁
They played and had their share of fun and that's all that matters - it's not on us to open an inquiry lol
Wonderful.Congratulations ♥️
It's a great story considering that they continued on playing together even after being co-workers at the same place.
I'm guessing they didn't have a chosen set of numbers that hit or it would have been mentioned.
More than likely a quick pick that hit.
Congrats to them for sticking together to win big
Just Maybe, I agree million percent everything you mentioned! Many blessings on our ventures to grow wealth the slow turtle way or be blessed from the lottery gods when all Stars aligned and we beaten the odds! People who won thought just like us, what makes us any different! They had the same exact equal chance as we do. All I know I would be able to do so much more with great blessings on lives