Posted on: February 4, 2023, 09:44h.
Last updated on: February 4, 2023, 10:51h.
Ontario teenager Juliette Lamour is now Can$48M (US $35.8M) richer after winning a “6/49” quick-pick lottery game.
Her Gold Ball jackpot was announced on Friday. She won the Ontario game last month.
The story begins when she called her grandfather about bringing him some ice cream, according to SooToday.com, a Canadian news site. She had just celebrated her 18th birthday, so he suggested going to a local store and buyng a lottery ticket “for fun.”
She chose the Circle K, a nearby gas station/convenience store.
When she got there, there were so many lottery games from which to choose.
I had never bought a ticket before, so I called my dad who told me to buy a Lotto 6/49 QuickPick,” the 18-year-old Algoma University student said in a statement from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
She put the ticket away. Then, a pharmacist at the Rexall pharmacy where the two worked, told her he heard the January 7 winning ticket was sold in Sault Ste. Marie. That is Lamour’s hometown.
So, the two scanned the numbers on her ticket using a lottery app.
The “Winner/Gagnant” jingle began to play, the Independent newspaper reported. The words “Big Winner” simultaneously appeared on the phone’s screen. The pharmacist’s hands went to his head, and he fell on his knees. He yelled out: “Oh my God!”
My colleague fell to his knees in disbelief. He was yelling, in fact everyone was yelling, that I won $48 million,” Lamour was quoted by the Toronto Star.
“I didn’t understand what was going on at first. I couldn’t process this news. We kind of made a scene in the store that day.”
Happy Tears
She started to cry. They were “happy tears,” she explained while speaking with the media at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. office. She immediately called her mother with the good news. Her mom screamed, initially in disbelief.
Lamour’s mother advised her to finish her shift where the teen worked as a part-time pharmacist’s assistant. With encouragement from her work colleagues, her parents soon came to take her home and celebrate the win.
Her father, Kevin, is a financial planner, so he will advise her carefully on where to invest the winnings, Lamour said.
She is the youngest person ever to win such a large amount, Canadian media reported.
Lamour also will have no problem now paying the tuition to prepare her for her dream career: becoming a physician.
She was planning to use tuition assistance provided to members of Canada’s Garden River First Nation.
But now, those scholarships can go to another worthy nation member. And Lamour still plans on becoming a physician.
Money Doesn’t Define You
“I really want to come back to this area as a doctor so I can give back to my community,” she said. “Money doesn’t define you. It’s the work you do that will define you.”
For the immediate future, she wants to use some of the jackpot to travel with her family this coming summer and explore another country.
