Last month on November 5th, Amy Strang of Dauphin purchased a pair of tickets at Al's Lucky Lotto for Lotto 6/49's "Gold Ball" draw. One of them turned out to be worth one-million dollars, as she would soon find out.
Nearly a week later on November 11th, Strang took her tickets to a self-checker at the Dauphin Marketplace Mall and was shocked at first, saying she thought her prize was a bit smaller.
"I actually thought it was a-hundred-thousand at first but when I kind of leaned in and counted the zeros ... it was a million."
Strang says she thought the self-checker must have been broken, and that it could not be real. Even nearly a month later, she is still having a hard time believing it.
"It was a big shock, I didn't even really know what to think, there was a lot of emotions going ... it's all still very surreal", recalled Strang.
The big lottery win could not have come at a much better time for Strang, who moved back to Dauphin from Nunavut this summer and bought a house. As you can probably guess, the mortgage will soon be paid off. Another chunk of her winnings went toward a brand new vehicle. She also said that some of the money will go to her family, including to some nieces and nephews to help with future post-secondary education costs.
The "Gold Ball" draw is a new format in conjunction with the regular Lotto 6/49 draw, and it was Strang's mother who told her about it. When the two were at the mall on November 5th, Strang decided to give it a shot for the first time. Turns out that was a millionaire's choice.
"It's funny because I never thought in my entire life that this would happen."
I don't know about you, but I'm going to buy a ticket too.
