B.C. winner of $500K lottery prize wants to move to Florida

Richard Prest, of Vancouver, B.C., won $500,000 in the Oct. 28, 2022 Lotto Max draw. (BCLC)

The latest lucky lottery winner from B.C.'s Lower Mainland wants to use his sudden windfall to move out of the rain-soaked region and into sunny Florida.

Vancouver resident Richard Prest matched all four Extra numbers in the Oct. 28 Lotto Max draw, winning him a cool $500,000.

"It's a big relief," Prest said in a B.C. Lottery Corporation news release. "I can have some golden years and it will allow me to do some of the things I've always wanted."

One of those things is to move across the continent – all the way to the Sunshine State, which Prest previously called home for 25 years.

But before the move, Prest told the BCLC he plans to spend another cold Canadian Christmas with his brother and his kids in Winnipeg.

The lottery winner purchased his ticket from the Safeway on West Broadway at Macdonald Street, and had it validated by a cashier at a local corner store. Prest said the first person he told was a cousin in Ontario.

"She was very happy for me," he said.

The odds of winning the top Extra prize of half a million dollars are extremely poor, at around one in 3.76 million, according to lottery officials.

The odds of winning the main Lotto Max prize, which requires matching all seven numbers without using the bonus, are even worse at around one in 33.3 million.