A Manitoba man discovered he was $20 million richer while in Winnipeg for his daughter’s wedding.
Jerry Knott, from Wasagamack, bought a Lotto MAX ticket at Drifters Restaurant & Service in Lac du Bonnet, put the ticket in his wallet, then completely forgot about it until more than a month later when he was in the city for the celebration.
“I saw a two and a bunch of zeroes and thought, ‘Cool! I won $20,000,” Knott said.
“The store retailer looked at me with wide eyes and said, ‘This is the missing ticket!’”
“I didn’t know what she was talking about until she scanned it again and I saw there were a few more zeroes than I had originally thought. That’s 20 and six zeroes – $20 million!”
Knott said he plans to use the bulk of his winnings to continue developing a dream project on Big Stone Lake in northern Manitoba that he’d already been working on with family before the windfall.
“A while ago my father set up some reserve status land on Big Stone Lake,” he said.
“My brother and I decided to build some cottages on the lake to be used as a treatment centre or a wilderness experience.
“We were inspired by all of the big companies that have come up north to build remote fly-in fishing resorts.”