Canadian Marcel Lussier is celebrating a $70 million Lotto Max jackpot win. It’s also going to be good news for Ukraine as they battle Russia.
The retired Hydro-Quebec engineer used to spend the night before a draw planning how he’d spend his winnings. Finally, those dreams can become reality after he won the jackpot in the Lotto Max draw held on June 7.
The winner says that he had a feeling a jackpot win had been achieved. It was the day after the draw that he checked his ticket on the Loto Québec website. An earlier attempt to find out if his ticket was a winner had been unsuccessful. Second time very lucky though and to his great surprise, the numbers seen matched the ones he had. He quickly shouted to his surprised wife, “Did you know I just won $70 million?”
Two days later, he went to the Loto Québec HQ in Montreal to collect his Lotto Max winnings. That was a strange experience for him as he used to work in the building where he had to collect his winnings. He didn’t collect $70 million though as Marcel was also lucky enough to win another $27,052 in secondary prizes.
One worry you always have when getting a big lottery win is keeping your ticket safe. That was the case here as the couple hid their ticket away so it wasn’t lost before their winnings could be claimed. Marcel feared that the hiding place chosen was so secret he might forget where the ticket had been put.
Thankfully that wasn’t the case and the jackpot winner joked that he now has “71 million plans for the future”! He now hopes to go traveling with his wife thanks to their Lotto Max win. They had been due to go on a cruise but that had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another plan for the Lotto Max winner is to help Ukraine. He’s been in discussions with an entrepreneur looking at ways they can help rebuild parts of war-stricken Ukraine. Donating prefabricated homes is one possible way forward.
The generous winner also wants to help autistic adults in Quebec. He plans to open a new centre that can help them.
A lot of winners get very excited when they win a big jackpot. Not so much this one though and he says he is relaxed by nature. Even so, the Lotto Max winner says he’s still coming to terms with what has happened. He said of receiving his cheque: “It’s a normal day like any other. No stress.”
