A Prince George forestry worker is nearly $104,000 richer after guessing right on six of seven numbers plus the bonus number on the Lotto Max lottery.
Neil Morris, a married 47-year-old father of three, was at the B.C. Lottery Corporation headquarters in Kamloops on Thursday to pick up the cash, won on a ticket he purchased at the Mohawk at the corner of First and George for the Christmas Day draw.
While he used to buy Super 7 tickets on a regular basis, it was just the second time he ever played Lotto Max.
"Needless to say, I couldn't believe my eyes a couple days after Christmas when I used the Check-A-Ticket machine at the grocery store to check my numbers," Morris said in a press release issued Thursday by the B.C. Lottery Corporation. "I yelled over to my wife 'Tracey, I think we just won over $100,000!' I can't tell you what she said."
Given that he once told friends and family that winning "just $100,000 on the lottery" would be all he'd need, Morris was happy with the win.
"Now, I guess I'm going to have to set the bar a little higher," he joked.
Two other people, both in Ontario, also won $103,709 while the top prize of $10 million was rolled over. As a result, a grand prize of $20 million was split between two winners, one in Western Canada and one in Quebec, for the Jan. 8 draw.
The odds of getting six numbers plus the bonus is one in 4.1 million plays and the chances of wining the grand prize is one in 28.6 million.
"I grabbed a pen, signed the back of the ticket, then took it over to the lottery kiosk to have it validated," said Morris. "Bells and lights started going off and the woman behind the counter started crying!"
Numbers for the Lotto Max, which began in late September, are drawn every Friday. It starts with a top prize of $10 million and when the jackpot grows to $50 million, additional $1 million prizes become available.
