TILBURY COUPLE WINS $26M

Both have resigned from their jobs

One little piece of cardstock — a lottery ticket — was all it took to change the lives of the Montminy family forever.

Tilbury residents Mike and Tricia Montminy are still reeling over holding the lone jackpot-winning ticket in the Lotto MAX draw of Feb. 17. The prize: $26,037,102.70.

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the odds of the Montminy’s ticket matching all seven numbers to land the top payout were one in 28.6 million.

The Insurance Information Institute says your odds of dying in an earthquake in the U.S. this year are about one in 9.3 million.

Mike bought the ticket at Mr. Video & Convenience, 37 Queen St. South in Tilbury. He checked the ticket on Saturday, before he was supposed to go to work as a technician at Cottingham Tire.

“I stared at the numbers for about two minutes,” Mike said.

Naturally, instead of going to work, Mike rushed to a nearby Mac’s convenience store to put the ticket through an OLG self-scanner.

The machine validated the ticket as a jackpot winner. The OLG called the store immediately. Mike called his wife — who works in human resources — with the incredible news. “It’s just unreal,” Tricia said. OLG spokeswoman Galit Solomon confirmed Tuesday that the corporation has been in touch with the claimant.

“We’ll have to go through the prize-claim review process before they’re declared the winner,” Solomon said. “It will be shortly — within the next couple days.”

But the Montminys are already celebrating. According to the Toronto Sun, they took a limo ride to Windsor to dine at a restaurant with friends and visited Mr. Video & Convenience to whoop it up with store owner Greg Lee.

As for what comes next — they don’t know. Both Mike and Tricia, who have two teenage children, have already tendered their resignations.