A Portage la Prairie man is happy he misread his Lotto 6/49 ticket earlier this month.
James Case said he thought he’d won $1,000 in the Aug. 5 draw — a great prize in itself — when a sharp-eyed 7-11 clerk pointed out his mistake.
“I thought it was for $1,000 but the girl who was working said, ‘Sir, there’s too many zeroes for that,’” said Case
“So I had to scan it again… and I just thought, holy man! are you kidding me?”
Case had, in fact, perfectly matched the numbers to win the $1 million prize draw, as well as a less impressive — but still welcome — $10 additional prize.
The lucky winner said he hopes to travel, once it’s safe to do so, due to the pandemic, and maybe buy some new property and help out friends and family.
“I want to make sure my kids are OK — they wouldn’t ever ask me anyway — and I want to help my sister out and a good friend of mine,” he said.
“I’d love to walk into their house and say, ‘hey… guess what?’”