A Smithville couple has won $23 million dollars.
Bob Donaldson and his wife Sandra are celebrating the win following the Jan 27th Lotto 6/49 draw.
Bob asked his wife Sandra to do two things for him while he was away in China – buy their LOTTO 6/49 ticket and pick up after their dog.
While Sandra failed to clean up after the pup, she did buy the winning ticket, worth $23,324,912.20.
“I guess I can forgive her for not cleaning up after the dog,” laughed Donaldson, a retired manager at Hamilton-based steel company Dofasco.
The couple, married 36 years, have been playing LOTTO 6/49 and LOTTO MAX together for many years. “Bob usually buys our tickets and he always plays our own chosen numbers. I just bought a Quick Pick ticket,” shared Sandra, a retired personal support worker, while the pair were at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto today to pick up their cheque.
She says he heard on the news that the winning ticket was purchased in the Hamilton area so she checked her ticket against the numbers posted online – they all matched.
Sandra called her daughter and asked her to come over right away and after validating her ticket at the store she knew it was real.
She says she was freaking out but luckily she had her sister, daughter and son close by.
Sandra waited for almost a week until Bob was home from China to share the news with him.
“When I got home, Sandra said, “I have good news and bad news. Good news – you can get a new car sooner than you think. Bad news – we have to go see our lawyer right away!’ Then she handed me the winning ticket – I was speechless! We’ll have a nice memory of this moment as our kids were recording us the whole time,” smiled Bob.
The couple plans to share their winnings with their two children and two grandchildren (and another on the way!). “It’ll be wonderful to be able to travel more and longer. We’ll also buy that new car for Bob, install a pool and build a walk-in closet – I already went on a shopping spree while Bob was still in China,” admitted Sandra.
“I feel grateful and happy knowing we can help our family. And I think this is what people should do when they are so fortunate – help each other. We plan to pay it forward,” concluded Bob.
The winning ticket was purchased at Rexall on Griffin Street in Smithville.
