A Calgary trio have won the $50 million Lotto 6/49 prize they bought together 17 years ago

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Two of Calgary's three newest multi-millionaires knew the third was going to hit the jackpot while they were sleeping.

After a long weekend, Carmen Austria woke up early on December 11th, made coffee and checked lottery tickets. last 17 years.

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He hadn't heard that a Calgarian had won an unclaimed Lotto 6/49 prize worth $50 million. But when he scanned the ticket on his Lotto Spot app, he got the message everyone who buys a lottery ticket expects: “It looks like a $50 million winner.”

“Tell me I'm not reading this wrong,” she said, dragging her husband out of the shower.

“I'm not going to tell you what he said, but he swore,” he said at a news conference Wednesday. “He said, 'I'm going to retire!' said. »

It was 6 a.m. when Austria checked the ticket, and her phone call to the lottery team met with a very different welcome.

“When you get those texts at 6:20 in the morning, you're like, 'Oh no, what happened?' Something bad happened,'” Wall said.

Perkins, on the other hand, was fast asleep when he called.

“Who wakes me up at 6:30 in the morning? That's why I didn't answer him,” he said. “Then I got my phone and started seeing these texts and this amazing photo of the Lotto Spot winners screen, and it looks like you've won $50 million. And I just didn't count.”

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The three multi-millionaires, who split the prize at $16.6 million each, have been friends for twenty years. They started buying tickets together in 2007 and said the best part was winning together.

“I'm glad the three of us share this. “It's still a lot of money, I don't know what I would do with only 50 million dollars,” says Austria.

Perkins added: “Don't get me wrong. I want 50 million dollars. But emotionally (it's) even more enriching.”

Although they have had two months to digest the news, the three have many emotions about their newfound wealth. Austria visited family in Chile, Wall and his wife retired as quickly as possible, and Perkins was first in line at the Ford dealership after the funds appeared in his bank account.

“I've been preparing for this for a long time,” Perkins said.

They're thinking of going on a group vacation to celebrate, but the trio still plans to play the lottery. They hope it will give them confidence that, yes, it is possible for lottery pools based on other jobs or friends.

“If you have a ticket, you have a chance,” Perkins said. “And you can dream about the things you can do. You don't have to believe it will ever happen. But if you don't play, you don't have a dream.”

Albertans have been lucky in the lottery lately; According to AGLC Board Chair Len Rhodes, Albertans have won more than $330 million from the lottery since November 2022.

He said the Alberta winner of last month's $70 million Lotto Max draw has also been announced and the news should be shared this week.

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