I feel like a million bucks!
Prince Albert LOTTO MAX winner unknowingly carried around $1M-winning ticket for months!
“I feel like a million bucks!”
Evert Austria had a $1 million winning LOTTO MAX ticket sitting in his spare wallet for months… but he had no idea!
The Prince Albert local said he alternates between two wallets, using a bulkier one to store cards and—you guessed it—lottery tickets.
“I had the second wallet at the Co-op when I thought I should check a bunch of tickets to lighten the load, since I was waiting,” Austria explained.
A few moments later, he was in shock. One of the tickets was a million-dollar winner for the May 21 LOTTO MAX draw!
“I told my mom first,” he said. “My dad passed away recently, and I had promised I would take care of her and my siblings. Now I can do that.”
“It was my last promise to him, and now I’m not thinking about what I’m going to buy myself,” he added. “I told my wife, ‘We have everything we need; it’s going to help my family.’ I want to give back to the hospital that delivered my kids too!”
The winner said he had been off sick the day before finding out about his win and his boss called to check in on how he was doing.
“I said, ‘I feel like a million bucks!’” he laughed.
Austria said he likes playing LOTTO MAX because of opportunities to win like this one.
“Even if you don’t get the big one, you get a chance to win other prizes like [MAXMILLIONS],” he said. “I play EXTRA too!”
“I’m just still in shock. I was thinking it was $100,000 and I thought, ‘Right on!’” he laughed. “It was much more than that. We will make it grow and help other people along the way.”
“It’s a chance to carry on my father’s legacy.”
Austria purchased his winning LOTTO MAX ticket from Real Canadian Superstore, located at 591 15 St. E in Prince Albert. He won a MAXMILLIONS prize by correctly matching one of the 10 extra sets of numbers drawn in the May 21 LOTTO MAX draw: 1, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, and 39.