A group of 28 co-workers in Quebec got lucky, and now they are cashing in.
The Polytechnique Montréal 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 over $178,500 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 receiving a screenshot confirming their winning ticket.
“My phone rang all day. I was travelling, so I ignored the calls,” said Olivier St-Germain-Lavoie. He told Global News 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 the whole thing 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 colleagues Diane Morneau and Caroline Soo decided to start playing together.
Diane, whose from Quebec’s Laurentians region, is the one who checked the winning numbers from the Sept. 20th draw and was the first to know they had won.
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“Only after I scanned the ticket over 20 times did I realize it was well and truly $5-million,” she said. “We’re still astonished.”
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 the winners say they plan on doing with the cash 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 they feel the cheque 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, Global News