Jeffery McInnes has been playing the lottery for the past 30 years and now he’s finally able to celebrate his first big win by being mortgage-free.
The father and grandfather said he was at a gas station when he decided to go inside and grab a coffee. He also thought it would be a good time to check his tickets.
“I went over to the ticket checker, scanned my ticket, and saw the ‘Big Winner’ message on the screen,” he recalled in a press release.
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At first, McInnes thought there had been some kind of mistake.
“I checked a few other tickets before rescanning the first one. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said.
To his complete shock, McInnes’ ticket had scored him $709,022.30.
He shared the good news with his wife right away. “She didn’t believe me at first,” he admitted.
He had to show her the numbers on his lottery app to assure her that he had actually won.
“It was a funny moment we shared,” he said.
McInnes plans to use his winnings to pay off his mortgage and finish some home renovations.
He isn’t the only lottery winner who said they’d use their winnings toward housing.
Most recently, 25-year-old Talibah Howard — also from Ontario — won $125,000. She said she would use her lottery jackpot to invest in her first home.
McInnes’ winning ticket was purchased at Foodland on Main Street East in Beeton.
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