$5.8M B.C. lotto winner now planning trip with grandkids says she almost didn't buy the ticket
One of the British Columbia's newest multimillionaires hopes to take her grandchildren on vacation after winning a major prize in a draw she almost didn't take part in.
Juanita Parnell, of Prince Rupert, won $5,790,419.90 in a recent Lotto 6/49 draw after matching all six numbers. The jackpot was split between Parnell and another ticketholder, who played the lottery in Ontario.
It was a win that almost didn't happen, she told the B.C. Lottery Corporation.
"I was in a rush. I had actually forgotten and was hurrying to buy (before the deadline for the draw), and was worried I would miss the numbers," she said in a statement issued by BCLC about two weeks later.
But she made it to the cash register in time, and played the same set of numbers she's been playing for two decades – numbers she says don't actually have any significance to her.
Her picks, 7, 18, 19, 38, 42 and 46, were chosen randomly when she first started playing the lottery, and she stuck with them.
"There's no rhyme or reason why… I think I've missed playing them only three times," Parnell said.
She found out she won, but tried to keep it quiet at first. It wasn't easy.
"I'm pretty sure it was 3:30 in the morning and I was still awake," she said of how she reacted to learning she'd won the Oct. 6 draw.
"My daughter had called me earlier and said that someone in Prince Rupert had won the jackpot. She had found out on Facebook. Apparently everyone in Prince Rupert had found out."
Indeed, while no names were revealed, BCLC announced right after the draw that the winning tickets were sold in Prince Rupert and Ottawa.
Parnell wasn't revealed publicly as the B.C. winner until Wednesday, and though she's had some time to think, she's still not sure what she'll do with the bulk of the money.
She does have one plan already: taking her grandchildren to Disney World.
"We've never been able to go on a vacation together all at once," she said, joking that she'd be sure to go outside of storm season, meaning her family won't be hopping on a plane in the immediate future.
Parnell is one of several B.C. lottery winners this year, but the chances of winning any game are extremely low.
BCLC says the odds of matching all six numbers in a Lotto 6/49 draw, as she did, are one in 13,983,816.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Weather alerts issued for 7 provinces, 1 territory
Warnings of up to 60 millimetres of rain and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces and one territory ahead of the Easter weekend.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Luxury cruise line selling world cruise suite for US$1.7 million
Luxury operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises is raising their price tag to eye-watering levels, with a suite on an upcoming 140-day world voyage costing US$1.7 million.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace
A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.
Ontario homeowner on the hook for $27,000 when contractor severed power line
An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
'Oppenheimer' finally premieres in Japan to mixed reactions and high emotions
'Oppenheimer' finally premiered Friday in the nation where two cities were obliterated 79 years ago by the nuclear weapons invented by the American scientist who was the subject of the Oscar-winning film. Japanese filmgoers' reactions understandably were mixed and highly emotional.