Amy Strang couldn’t believe what she was seeing when she scanned her LOTTO 6/49 ticket for the November 5 draw and discovered she was about to be a millionaire, this according to a media release today.
“I went to the mall and scanned it at the kiosk,” Strang explained. “I scanned it three times, and I didn’t believe it,” she laughed. So Strang took her ticket to the cashier for validation and told them their self-checker must be malfunctioning.
“I said ‘It’s telling me I’ve won a lot of money, I don’t believe,’” she recalled. The cashier scanned her ticket and confirmed that there was no mistake – she had won $1 million. Soon after, Strang headed over to her parents’ house to share the good news.
” I couldn’t even think straight!” she recalled as she claimed her prize. She said that her father knew right away that she wasn’t joking – he could tell by the entrance she made into the house. Strang was so distracted by the news she walked into the door on her way inside.
“I was white as a ghost, and my boyfriend was shaking,” she explained with a laugh. “I looked at my parents and said ‘you’re never going to believe what just happened to me.’”
The newly minted millionaire has plans for her windfall.
“I’m going to buy myself a new vehicle. Then, we’re planning on using some money to help out family, especially the kids with post-secondary education,” she explained.
“This is so wild to me because I never thought this would happen in my entire life,” continued Strang. “My family helped me so much over the years, and now I have the chance to help them.”
Strang picked up her ticket from Al’s Lucky Lotto at 1450 Main Street in Dauphin on November 5. She matched all the winning numbers – 24831841-05 – and took home the Gold Ball Jackpot draw’s $1 million prize.
Strang is the second Manitoban to take home a million-dollar prize since LOTTO 6/49, Canada’s longest-running national lottery game, debuted a new format in early September with the guaranteed prize was replaced with an elimination-style Gold Ball Jackpot draw.