Winners of $55 million don’t know yet what to do
For a Quebec couple who’d just won a $55-million lottery prize, Ann-Marie Francis and Ian Warcup sounded like not much would immediately change in their lives.
Francis and her husband said they will both likely retire from their respective jobs in the promotional items business, but had not yet made any grandiose plans to enjoy their staggering winnings.
Asked how their lives might change in the Eastern Townships after hitting the jackpot in Friday’s Lotto-Max draw, Warcup, who took Monday off from work, offered a humble shrug.
“Right now it’s really hard to say for sure,” he said. “We’re not going to live the same way we did before. We might buy some better food, more expensive food. We still don’t believe it’s actually happened.”
“You buy the food and I’ll cook it,” Francis said jokingly after a joyous cheque ceremony with LotoQuébec officials in Montreal.
It marks the fourth time in 2017 that the Lotto Max jackpot has been won in Quebec. The odds of winning the Lotto Max jackpot is 1 in 28,633,528.
Francis didn’t realize she had purchased the winning ticket until Saturday, a day after the draw. She checked the numbers “at least 1,000 times” on the Loto-Québec website before telling her husband the news. He was out back at the time, cleaning out the pool.
The couple said they have not yet decided if they will stay in the same house.
“We might either modify it or we might buy a new house, we don’t know yet,” Warcup said.
The couple apparently had their own small business, but were scarce on details.
“We do promotional products, like T-shirts and hats,” said Warcup, who doubts he’ll continue working now.
Ditto for Francis.
“I think I can retire,” she said. “Enjoy my children and life.”
Asked to describe their pre-jackpot lifestyle, Warcup said: “I think we live well. For sure we didn’t live extravagant but we still lived well. We ate every day.”
Then Francis added: “We had a life better than most people, I can say honestly. Blessed.”
“We’ve got our health, that’s the biggest thing,” Warcup said.
The couple have five adult children between 24 and 31 years old, and three grandchildren.
Francis said they had not yet informed their children or close friends about hitting the jackpot before Monday’s official ceremony.
“They’re finding out with everybody else,” Francis said.
Francis said being $55 million richer won’t affect her marriage, either.
“I’ll keep my pool boy,” she said with a laugh.
Francis, a frequent lottery player, said the winning numbers were picked randomly by a machine.
The winning ticket was bought at a Provigo grocery store on Queen St. in Sherbrooke. The retailer gets a one per cent prize of $550,000.