John Chua admits he was a little disappointed when his wife, Jhoana, woke him up early in the morning on January 23 to tell him someone in Winnipeg had brought home a massive $60 million LOTTO MAX jackpot.
“I was jealous of whoever won…not knowing it was me,” he recalled with a laugh.
John, who regularly picks up tickets on behalf of his family, started buying them online with PlayNow.com in November when retail sales of lottery tickets in Manitoba were restricted as part of public health orders. When John blearily checked his PlayNow.com account early the morning after the January 22 LOTTO MAX draw, he says he didn’t see anything to indicate his ticket was a winner.
Then later that day he received an email from PlayNow.com, and everything changed.
“I thought it might be a Free Play or something. but it said $60 million,” I was confused, John explained. “So I checked on PlayNow.com when I got home. And there it was; I didn’t see it earlier in the morning.”
John, who is sharing the win with his wife Jhoana Chua, mother Angie Chua, and uncle Ben Lagman, did actually win two Free Plays…along with a $60,000,020 prize; the largest lottery jackpot ever
awarded in Manitoba and the biggest payout ever in Canada from a ticket bought online.
The group matched all seven winning numbers for the draw – 11, 21, 23, 25, 28, 41 and 43.
John, who noted that even though his family’s lottery dreams have come true he’ll probably keep playing, “It’s a lot of fun.” He credits options like PlayNow.com, lottery subscriptions, and
remote ordering and pickup of lottery tickets as being important to allow players to keep playing when sales at retail were temporarily suspended.
