Couple wins $55M Lotto Max jackpot on Halloween: 'He was shaking, he was white and he was sweating'
Jean Larocque was so excited that he slept with the precious ticket, safekeeping it in the pocket of his pyjamas.
It was a spooky, yet lucky evening for a retired couple that landed a life-changing win with Lotto Max.
Jean Larocque and Catherine Ennis received a nice Halloween treat when they hit the Lotto Max $55,000,000 jackpot on the Oct. 31 draw. Ennis was baking Scottish oatcakes in the kitchen when Larocque first walked in with the big news. With Larocque’s reputation of being a trickster, she wasn’t too sure at first whether this was a trick or a treat.
“I was baking and Jean was checking his tickets which I don’t really pay attention to,” said Ennis at a press conference held by Loto-Québec.
“When he came in he said ‘Oh, you’ve got to come see, I won!’ and I said ‘Oh yeah Jean? I’m baking, leave me alone.’”
After a few minutes, she began to notice how he’d turn pale and immediately knew something was up.
“He was shaking, he was white and he was sweating,” said Ennis.
Larocque had purchased the winning ticket at a dépanneur in Coaticook, Que., with prize money he had won in a previous Lotto Max draw.
The day after the Oct. 31 draw, Larocque decided to check his ticket on lotoquebec.com and was shocked to see the massive amount of $55,000,000 displayed on the screen.
He was so excited that he decided to sleep with the precious ticket, safekeeping it in the pocket of his pyjamas pants. Larocque even admits to waking up a few times to double-check that his lucky ticket was still there.
The retired couple from Estrie, Que., had matched seven out of seven numbers – 22, 23, 25, 26, 35, 40, 44 – in exact order that day, leading to their jackpot. At first, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“We checked the tickets four times,” said Ennis, noting that they even made copies of the ticket to send to friends and family so they could verify the win.
This massive win comes after a $50,000,000 jackpot was just won by Pierre Richer, a Québec man from Montréal, and a $5,000,000 jackpot was awarded to a group of 28 colleagues from the University of Montréal.
“Luck favors Quebecers this fall, as we can see with the many jackpots that we have awarded to people here recently," said Isabelle Jean, executive vice-president and head of lottery operations at Loto-Québec. "We are proud to contribute to the community and allow families to carry out projects of all kinds.”
When asked how they see their life changing after their big win, the humble couple said they don’t see it being altered too much.
“I like where I live, and we’re really comfortable,” said Ennis.
Instead of travelling or buying a new car, they plan on spoiling their loved ones and make donations to their community.
“We’ve been together a long time, and we’ve only had one car all our lives,” said Ennis.
Being a fan of fly fishing, Larocque said he would also like to practice his favourite hobby on the rivers of Scotland — where they can taste some authentic Scottish oatcakes.
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