Retired central Alberta couple wins $12.5M 6/49 lottery: ‘I was shaking’

A retired couple from Wetaskiwin County has a few more options on how to spend their golden years after winning big in the lottery.

Stella Sacrey and Edward Philpott won the $12.5 million LOTTO 6/49 jackpot from the Wednesday, Feb. 28 draw.

Sacrey bought the couple’s $7 ticket at the Petro Canada gas station in Westerose, a hamlet on the south shore of Pigeon Lake.

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The morning after the draw, she said she got up, made some coffee, and started checking her tickets as she always does. She started at the bottom because she was hoping it had won $100,000 on the add-on game, EXTRA.

“I checked the EXTRA first because I knew two winners from Alberta won the EXTRA,” Sacrey said at a news conference Wednesday. They had won $2 on it.

“Then, I started checking numbers and by the time I got to the fifth one, I was shaking. So I just went in and called him out of bed,” she laughed. “I couldn’t contain myself to wait for him to get up.”

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The couple’s ticket matched all six main winning numbers drawn, meaning she and Philpott had won the $12,506,188.10 jackpot.

“I was alive coming out of that bed, I can tell you that,” Philpott chuckled, saying he didn’t believe her at first.

The couple validated the ticket at the gas station. Their winning quick pick selection was 3, 14, 36, 38, 40 and 48.

Sacrey said she always had a gut feeling she would win someday. “I just didn’t think it would take this long,” she joked.

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The happy couple, who have 10 grandchildren, said they haven’t decided what they want to do with their winnings, but they have come up with a couple of ideas.

“I think after it set in, we figured we’d buy a new vehicle, help our kids, our families, and go somewhere warm.”

Sacrey said they wouldn’t mind going somewhere like Hawaii, and now can afford to go on bigger and longer trips.

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While they have won big, the couple said they will still continue to buy lottery tickets. “It’s habit.”