A small-town couple in Ontario said they would never move despite winning the Lotto Max $70 million jackpot, and after winning, they kept it a secret from their family for nearly two months until they received financial and legal advice.
加拿大Lotto Max 乐透2月份的7000万巨奖花落安省,OLG今天公布幸运儿是来自Lakefield小镇的道格·汉农(Doug Hannon)和伊妮德·汉农(Enid Hannon)两夫妇。
The Hannon couple, who have been married for 51 years, had a lottery ticket in their hands that matched exactly the seven numbers drawn on the night of February 20.
In a video released Thursday by the Ontario Lottery, the two recalled the moment she won the lottery at the time.
Enid bought the winning ticket at a small supermarket called Kinmount Independent Grocer on the side of the road on her way to camping, and her husband Doug claimed the prize through the OLG app the day after the draw and found out that the ticket was the jackpot winner.
"I had absolutely no idea that the winning tickets were sold in our area," Doug said. "So when I saw Big Winner on my phone screen, I was shaking! ”
"I had to stare at the screen for a while and count all those zeros, and then I had to go back and forth a few more times. ”
Doug, who has been retired for a few years, decided not to mention anything to her until she came home from work.
"I went to the garage and buried myself in some work while I struggled with disbelief and thought about our next steps," Doug said.
My wife, Enid, recalls calling my husband before she came home from work and said, "Do you want me to stop and buy lottery tickets?" He said no, come home, it's dinner, we need to discuss something. Then I went home. ”
Husband Doug Hannon said he waited until after dinner to share the news with his wife.
"I took her to the computer, opened the OLG website, and I said, 'Do you want to check the numbers?'"
Enid said she initially thought they had won $70,000.
As a result, seeing the countless zeros behind her, she began to cry.
"He said, 'Look again,'" she said. "I started crying, he started crying, that's all. ”
The couple hugged and cried happily as they began to talk about the great opportunity they must now take advantage of to help their families and others.
The couple's small town of Lakefield, located just north of Peterborough, more than 100 kilometres from Toronto, has a population of just over 10,000.
With 70 million in hand, the couple began to make some plans for the money.
The couple decided to keep their winnings a secret until they were able to get financial and legal advice, even for their adult children and grandchildren.
It was difficult for Enid not to tell anyone, as she was very warm and expressive to all who knew her.
"Keeping this secret literally killed me," said Enid, who is retiring.
This Monday (April 22), about a week before receiving their awards at a special celebration of OLG winners, the couple finally told their children and grandchildren about their awards. Everyone was incredulous and at the same time very happy for them.
How to spend 70 million?
Enid has been looking forward to a major renovation of her home for a long time.
"I need a new kitchen," his wife, Enid, said with a laugh.
"I've dreamed for years of having a new kitchen and now I'm going to get it while making some other improvements to the house because we love where we live now and we don't want to move," she said.
"The house is going to be renovated. We will stay where we are, our neighbours are so nice and our location is perfect so we won't move and never will move. ”
In addition to the renovations, the couple also planned some trips.
"I wanted to travel across Canada and experience the country's beautiful nature from coast to coast," said Doug, who loves the outdoors.
However, the most important thing for this couple is to support our extended family.
"Our families are the most important and we want to share this prize with them," Doug said. "I want to make sure everyone is safe, secure and well cared for. ”
They also want to use a portion of the prize money for some community causes they care about.
"It's really a blessing for us and our families," the couple added. "Like a lot of people, you always want to hit the jackpot and we never dreamed it would happen to us! ”
This past weekend, someone in Toronto also won 70 million, and this lucky person has kept this secret for many days.