Siblings from northern Alberta say they thought someone was playing a prank on them when they found out they won $1 million earlier this month.
“I thought it was April Fool’s – but it wasn’t April!” David Holst said.
David and his sister, Betty Holst, are splitting a $1-million jackpot after their LOTTO 6/49 ticket won the winning Guaranteed Prize Draw number for the Nov. 4 draw.
“We’ve never won before. We don’t know what we’ll do with it,” David said.
The pair is from Boyle, Alta., but purchased the ticket at a Petro Canada in Athabasca. The siblings picked up the ticket the morning of the draw. Betty was the one who first learned of their win the following day, when she scanned the ticket on the Lotto Spot! app.
“I thought somebody was playing a joke,” Betty said when she learned of the windfall.
Both David and Betty scanned the ticket on their own phones, just to be safe. They also called the number on the ticket to ensure their win was in fact real.
“We were kind of in denial,” David said. “I didn’t tell a soul and just went to work like any other day.”
The pair is still trying to figure out what to do with the money. Betty said she’s going to save some it and eventually travel, once it’s safe to do so. The pair may also split the cost of a retirement property “somewhere warm” once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Boyle is located about 140 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
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