What's first on the agenda for B.C.'s newest mega-millionaire? Finding tickets for his family to watch the Vancouver Canucks game this Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
"We need three tickets for Game 5!" Campbell River resident Dave Rennie told CTV News. "Maybe in the BC Lotto booth or something. That'd be nice."
The steel worker just became $35.7-million richer thanks to a Lotto Max ticket he bought Tuesday at a local Chevron Town Pantry.
He checked the ticket Saturday morning at a BC Lottery Corporation terminal after learning the jackpot winner was sold in his hometown. The machine froze.
With the winning ticket in hand, Dave found himself doing an involuntary dance.
"I gotta talk to some other winners and see how they danced," he joked.
He spent the rest of the day celebrating with his wife Sandra and son Kyle, though convincing them he was telling the truth took some effort.
"At first I didn't believe it because my dad's a jokester," Kyle said, adding that it took more than an hour to come around. "Eventually it sunk in and my first thought was, ‘I don't need to get a job this summer.' And then my second thought was, ‘My university's paid for.' So I'm pretty happy."
Dave's parents arrived at the house shortly after with two cases of beer. Father Bruce had already quit his job.
Sandra, who works as a horse trainer, says she has no plans to quit. When asked what kind of life changes Dave expects, he quipped "Botox, maybe."
But the reality had hardly settled in for the family, who described the feeling of sudden riches as "pretty surreal."
Dave's win marks the biggest Lotto Max jackpot sold in British Columbia this year.
