A group of 28 workers from Polytechnique Montréal got lucky, and now they are cashing in.
The university staff won a September Lotto 6/49 jackpot of $5-million, announced Loto-Québec on Friday. That means they’ll be splitting the prize money and collecting about $178,570 each.
“Looks like we won, and we’ll be sharing $5,000,000,” is what Aline Racine heard over the phone last month from a coworker before getting a screenshot confirming their winning ticket.
A group of 28 workers from a Montreal university are the lucky winners of a Lotto 6/49 draw worth $5 million. They’ll each be taking home almost $180,000.
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“My phone rang all the time that day. I was travelling so I ignored the calls,” said Olivier St-Germain-Lavoie. He told Motorcycle accident toronto today he was in Greece at the time and found out while in the shower.
“I was speechless,” he said about seeing the confirmation on screen, adding that he first thought it was a joke.
A press release from the province’s crown corporation lottery company says the Lotto playing group, called “le groupe a Didi” was first created 10 years ago when coworkers Diane Morneau and Caroline Soo decided to start playing together.
Diane, whose from the Laurentians region, is the one who checked the winning numbers from the Sept. 20th. draw and was the first to know they had won.
“Only after I scanned the ticket over 20 times did I realize it was well and truly $5-million. We’re still astonished,” she said.
The 28 winners are all current or past employees of Polytechnique Montréal, a public research university affiliated with the Université de Montréal.
The winning ticket was purchased at a Maxi grocer in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Que.. Most of the winners (15) are from Montreal, 10 are from the Montérégie region, two from the Laurentians and one from Centre-du-Québec.
With regards to the sum of money they will each be taking home, Loto-Québec says some of the things they plan on doing is spoiling their children, travelling and doing some home renovations.
Morneau says she plans on travelling around Quebec and Soo to Portugal. As for St-Germain-Lavoie, he wants to return to Greece.
Many of them also said the feel the check will help them in retirement.
The lucky group says they plan to keep playing and are not letting any new members join them.
–with files from Dan Spector