Vancouver Island couple plans to explore Canada's East Coast after $500K lottery win

Lottery winners Patsy and Robert McNeilly of Courtenay (Image credit: B.C. Lottery Corporation)

A Vancouver Island couple is planning a trip from one side of the country to the other after wining the $500,000 Extra prize on a Lotto 6/49 ticket.

Patsy and Robert McNeilly of Courtenay are now half a million dollars richer after the Oct. 28 draw, according to a news release from the B.C. Lottery Corporation posted last week.

Patsy asked her son to scan the ticket for her at the mall on the day she won. “He told me that I won $500,000 and I said, ‘yeah right,’” she recalled.

“The retailer confirmed the amount and tears were coming down, I just did not believe it!”

The first person she told about the win was Robert.

“It took a while to settle in; it did not click!” he said.

The couple said they’re going to use their winnings to explore Canada’s East Coast and Ottawa. They also plan to visit their grandchildren in the Okanagan, pay off their mortgage and invest for retirement.

“I think it’s the greatest thing on earth. Feeling of freedom,” Patsy said on how it feels to win the lottery.

The winning ticket was bought at Driftwood Mall in Courtenay.

Lottery players in B.C. have redeemed more than $36 million in winnings from the Extra add-on game and more than $115 million from Lotto 6/49 draws so far this year, according to the BCLC.

The odds of winning the $500,000 top prize on the Extra are one in 3,764,376.