Prince Rupert’s Juanita Parnell says she had one of the most restless sleeps of her life after she discovered she had matched all six numbers in the Lotto 6/49 draw on Oct 6 to win $5,790,419.90,
“I’m pretty sure it was 3:30 in the morning and I was still awake. My daughter had called me earlier and said that someone in Prince Rupert had won the jackpot,” says Parnell, who split the $11-million Lotto 6/49 jackpot with a ticket purchased in Ontario.
“She had found out on Facebook, apparently everyone in Prince Rupert had found out.”
Parnell says she almost didn’t buy the ticket that won her $5.8 million.
“I was in a rush [to buy my ticket]. I had actually forgotten and was hurrying to buy [before sales closed for the draw], and was worried I would miss the numbers.”
Parnell won with the same set of numbers (7, 18, 19, 38, 42, and 46) she has been playing for 20 years and says the numbers have no particularly special meaning.
She says she took the numbers from a Quick Pick 20 years ago and has been playing them ever since then.
“There’s no rhyme or reason why I’ve stuck with them. I think I’ve missed playing them only three times.”
Parnell says she’ll be taking some time to think about what to do with her winnings but would like to take her grandchildren on vacation.
“I’d like to take them to Disney World in Florida, preferably during the non-storm season,” said Parnell, laughing. “We’ve never been able to go on a vacation together all at once.”
The odds of matching all six numbers in the Lotto 6/49 draw are 1 in 13,983,816.
