THE CANADIAN PRESS
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - A 21-year-old Alberta oilpatch worker won't ever need to work again after winning more than $17.2 million in a Lotto 6-49 draw earlier this month.
Don Grimard, of Lethbridge, Alta., was recently working north of Medicine Hat, near the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.
He bought six lottery tickets for the Aug. 5 Lotto 6-49 draw at a convenience store in Outlook, Sask.
Grimard told lottery officials this week in St. Albert, Sask., that he usually bought some Quick Pick tickets whenever the total looked enticing. So he bought six - each with two selections, plus the Extra.
A day after the draw, he told officials, a co-worker mentioned there'd been two winners - one in Quebec, the other in Saskatchewan.
"I hadn't checked my tickets yet, so we went to the store and I started scanning them... I ran out of the store and started jumping up and down in the parking lot," he said in a news release issued by the Western Canada Lottery Corporation.
"I was hollering and screaming."
Then he went to work, "but I was only able to work for half a day," he said. "It felt like a dream."
Grimard then headed back to Lethbridge and began picking up financial advice.
"It's important to me to make sure I have things in place so I will never have to worry about finances again," he said.
He's been buying a few rounds of golf and while hitting the links he said he's had time to make more immediate plans.
"I've been figuring out fun ways to tell family and friends that I won."
He's also been helping family members with a few needs, he adds, and making some travel plans. Grimard's next trip may be a little farther than Saskatchewan.
