A Quesnel man's passport is about to get dusted off and put to work after he scored $500,000 in the Daily Grand lottery.
“I’ve got a passport that hasn’t been stamped in a while and it’s going to be stamped,” Thomas Mercer said in a B.C. Lottery Corporation statement issued Wednesday.
The Quesnel resident is a cable barge operator and purchased his ticket for the April 4 draw from the Super Save on Cariboo Highway on his way to work one day.
He took some time to process the win before coming forward earlier this month to claim his prize.
“It was hard to wrap my brain around it,” he said when he checked his ticket at a 7-Eleven in the community of 10,211 people 116 kilometres south of Prince George.
Mercer called his partner right away after discovering the good news.
“She was very happy and glad for me,” he said.
Aside from taking a trip somewhere warm, Mercer considers himself to be a saver and looks forward to using some of his prize down the road.
“This helps me out for later years. It’s pretty cool, I’m glad to be able to help people if needed,” he said.
Mercer landed the prize when his ticket matched all five main numbers drawn from a selection of 49. He had the option of receiving $25,000 a year for the rest of his life or taking the $500,000 lump sum. Odds of winning the amount are one in 2.2 million.
Had he also matched the Grand Number, one of seven chosen randomly on behalf of the buyer, Mercer would have won either of $1,000 a day for life or a lump sum of $7 million. Odds of that are one in 13.4 million.
Daily Grand is drawn on Mondays and Thursdays after 7:30 p.m.
