Quebec retirees win $55M lottery jackpot on Halloween
Two Quebec retirees are $55 million richer after hitting the Lotto Max jackpot on Halloween.
Jean Laroque used the money from a small previous Lotto Max win to purchase a ticket for the Oct. 31 draw from a depanneur in Coaticook. He checked his ticket online the next day and said he was shocked when he saw $55,000,000 pop up on the screen.
Laroque immediately went to tell his spouse, Catherine Ennis, the big news but known for being a jokester, she didn’t believe him at first.
"When he came in, he said, 'You’ve got to come see, I won!' and I said 'Oh, yeah Jean, I’m baking, leave me alone," said Ennis. "He was shaking, he was white, he was sweating, so I said ‘I’m going to go see what the problem is."
She said they checked the tickets four times to make sure it was the real deal.
Larocque slept with the ticket in the pocket of his pyjamas, and admitted he woke up a few times overnight to make sure the ticket was still there.
He then went to the bank to store the golden ticket into a safety deposit box. The bank even opened early on Monday to let him retrieve the ticket in time for the ceremony.
The Eastern Townships couple say they plan to spoil their loved ones and donate to causes they're committed to. First, though, they say they’ll take a trip -- maybe to Scotland -- and take some time to let the magnitude of the windfall sink in.
Laroque is the latest in a slew of big-ticket winners in the last few weeks. A Montrealer won a $50 million jackpot, a group of coworkers won a $5 million prize and the $2 million Quebec 46 jackpot has been won three times in the last two months.
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