Five long-time friends are celebrating after discovering they won $3 million on a lottery ticket.
Adonis Ntwari, Emmanuel Hakizimana, Ramon Sindambiwe, Aime Nduwingoma and Marius Kanibi, all of Calgary, won the Aug. 31 Lotto 6-49 draw.
Ntwari bought the group’s $4 quick-pick ticket at Spruce Cliff Grocery in southwest Calgary and said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he checked it on a self-service machine and found they had won.
“I had to scan the ticket a couple of times,” Ntwari said in a Tuesday news release. “I wasn’t sure I was seeing things properly.”
“I sent a message to everyone letting them know we won, but no one believed me at first,” he continued.
The men split the $9 million Lotto 6-49 jackpot with two other winning tickets; one purchased in St. Albert, Alta., and the other in Ontario.
Ntwari said the members of the group have started to make plans for their respective $600,000 shares of the windfall.
“We’re all taking time to think about what we want to do,” he said. “So far, I think we’ve all agreed that we’ll put most of the money away for the future.”
“For now, it’s really nice to know we all have some financial relief.”