Castlegar woman brings in $3-million lotto ticket
By Kyra Hoggan
Cashiers at Shoppers Drug Mart got to deliver a $3 million surprise this morning, when an unsuspecting customer brought in a winning Lotto 6-49 ticket.
Castlegar was a-buzz at the outset of 2011 when the media learned a Lotto 6-49 ticket worth $3,024,656.30 was purchased here in town … but Alica Jollimore, cashier manager at Shoppers, said the woman who came in had no clue it might be her own ticket.
“She had no idea,” Jollimore said of the winner (who can’t be named until the ticket is confirmed through B.C. Lottery Corporation). “She handed the ticket to the cashier, we ran it through the lottery terminal, and it popped up as a winner.
“I think she (the winner) was in shock – she was kinda shaky, we had to sit her down and make sure she could get home all right.”
Jollimore said the experience was an emotional one for everyone nearby.
“My cashier was freaking out,” she said. “There were four of us cashiers there, and we were all almost in tears, we were so ecstatic and excited for her.”
Jollimore said she thinks the winner and her husband, both local residents, intend to head to Kamloops this weekend to cash it in at the BCLC offices, and BCLC media relations manager Seumas Gordon said they can usually confirm a winning jackpot ticket on the same day people present it.
As soon as the ticket is confirmed, a celebration will be scheduled and the name released to the media.
Keep checking back with The Source for more details.
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