First ticket purchase wins $70 million in Ontario lottery

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Courtesy: Information material / OLG

Days after giving birth to their new baby, an Ontario couple won the lottery jackpot, pocketing $70 million.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) said in a news release Monday that Jennifer Stuart-Flynn, 33, and Kyle Murray, 39, won the Lotto Max jackpot on Aug. 20 after Murray purchased his first Canadian lottery ticket.

The winning ticket was purchased shortly after the couple returned to their home in Iroquois Falls from Toronto, after Stuart-Flynn gave birth to a high-risk pregnancy, OLG said.

Murray was waiting at the Timmins airport to pick up his mother who was helping him care for his newborn when Stuart-Flynn texted him asking him to buy a Lotto Max ticket.

Stuart-Flynn saw on the Internet that the prize pool was $70 million.

Murray, who is originally from the United States, had never bought a lottery ticket in Canada before, despite living and working in Canada for several years, he told OLG.

He went to a gas station and asked the clerk for help. He came out with his first ever Lotto Max and 6/49 quick pick tickets.

When Murray returned home with his mother, he put the tickets on the refrigerator so they would remember to check them.

Stuart-Flynn later learned that the winning ticket had been sold in their area and decided to check his quick pick.

“I scanned my ticket on the OLG app and heard the victory signal: winner/gagnant,” she said in a statement.

“I was in shock and didn’t understand what was happening, so I closed the OLG app and reopened it. I checked the ticket again and heard the same thing. That’s when I called Kyle.”

Murray worked from home because he was employed in the financial technology industry.

“I thought I heard ‘winner/gagnant’ coming from Jennifer’s phone in the kitchen, but I wasn’t fully focused on what she was saying until she shouted ‘I think we’ll win,'” Murray said.

“I looked at her phone and it said ‘$70 million winner,’ but I was trying to figure out if it was showing the maximum prize or if we had actually won $70 million. I felt dizzy and this feeling ran through my whole body.”

The first person to hear the news was Murray’s mother. The couple, Murray’s mother, and their children went out to a quiet celebration at a restaurant.

“We wanted to shout the news out, but we knew in our small town, news like this would travel very fast,” Stuart-Flynn said.

“We had to be careful not to talk during the entire dinner.”

However, the news has now come to light and the couple have said they are “carefully considering” what to do with their unexpected fortune.

Stuart-Flynn said her plans include buying her sister a new house.

The couple also want to ensure their children are well cared for.

“We want to buy some land to start a small farm with chickens and a mountain cow. We hope it will be a place where the kids will enjoy themselves and want to come back when they grow up,” Murray said.

“The last few years have been a struggle for us and everything we have done has been to give our children a better life,” Stuart-Flynn added.

“I realize that my children will have a much better life than I had, and that’s what makes me the most emotional. They are ready and they won’t have to worry about anything or worry about anything anymore.”

The winning ticket was purchased at the Esso store on Algonquin Boulevard in Timmins, OLG said.

This is the sixth consecutive Lotto Max win in Ontario.

Meanwhile, the Lotto Max jackpot in Tuesday’s (September 17) drawing reached a record $80 million.

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