Murray Wallace thought he was the target of a prank when he discovered he had won $675,000 playing Set for Life.
“My first thought was, ‘Is this a joke?’” Wallace said in a British Columbia Lottery Corporation press release. “I said, ‘where are the cameras?’ I thought someone had to be pranking me because I am a big prankster myself and prank all of my friends and family.”
Wallace is a long-haul trucker and was travelling through Kamloops when he bought a Set for Life ticket from the BVD Truck Stop on Kokanee Way. He was at Sutherland’s bakery in Enderby when he decided to validate his ticket.
He scanned the ticket at the self-checker and it began flashing ‘winner’ and he started to get excited.
“At that point, people started gathering around and I wasn’t sure how much I’d won yet,” he said.
Once he realized the prize amount, the first person he told was his spouse.
“She thought it was another one of my pranks and even hung the phone up on me twice. Then, she came inside the store and once she saw my face she believed me and we just hugged. It was amazing,” Wallace said.
The Salmon Arm resident plans to have a big pig roast with family and friends to celebrate and looks forward to returning to his birthplace of Scotland to see family thanks to his prize.
Since winning he said he’s experienced a lot of emotion.
“Absolutely surreal, emotional and euphoric,” he said.
In 2022, B.C. lottery players redeemed more than $11 million in Set for Life prizes.