Four friends from Calgary are splitting the biggest lottery jackpot in Canadian history.
Eidelson Elchico, Lovelyn Malvar, Hazeline Ong and Velna Ramirez matched all seven numbers in the Tuesday, Oct. 20 Lotto Max draw. The jackpot was $90 million. Split four ways, that’s $22.5 million each.
It was the first time they’d ever bought a ticket together.
It started with a group chat
The four met through their families and have been friends for more than five years.
At the start of October, the Lotto Max jackpot was sitting at its new $90 million cap and nobody was winning it. So they opened a group chat, named it “Manifesting Millions,” and went in on a ticket through PlayAlberta.
“We’ve been manifesting millions,” Malvar said.
3 a.m.
Elchico, a father of two, woke up around 3 a.m. the morning after the draw and checked his email. There was a message from PlayAlberta.
He didn’t count the numbers. “It’s hard to count, for me, at 3 a.m.,” he said. He figured they’d won $9,000. Or maybe $900. He woke his wife, who told him to go check the website.
Then he went to the group chat.
Malvar woke up to her phone going off. “Our group chat is exploding and I thought, ‘What the heck, it’s too early in the morning,’” she said. Her first thought was that it was a scam.
Ong slept through all of it. When the others couldn’t reach her, they called her husband, who was getting ready for work. He woke her up so she could join a group video call.
“I couldn’t believe we won on the first time,” Ong said.
“It’s pretty overwhelming. It’s nerve-wracking,” Malvar said. “It took a week for it to actually sink in.”
Two weeks of keeping quiet
They claimed the prize and told nobody. Until Friday’s announcement, the only people who knew were their spouses.
All four kept going to work. They say they need the distraction while it sinks in.
They haven’t figured out what to spend on themselves. Family comes first, they said, and some of it will go back to the community.
“There’s a lot of people that need help,” Elchico said. “So, for me, this is the way.”
Why this one is historic
Lotto Max raised its jackpot cap from $80 million to $90 million in April. The Oct. 20 draw was the first time anyone won the new maximum, which makes it the largest lottery prize ever paid out in Canada.
The jackpot hit $90 million for the Friday, Oct. 16 draw. Nobody won. It stayed there for one more draw, and on Oct. 20 the Calgary group’s ticket hit.
The winning numbers were 8, 15, 19, 23, 26, 28 and 34, with a bonus number of 38. The odds of matching all seven are about 1 in 33 million.
The ticket wasn’t where everyone thought
When the jackpot was first announced, WCLC’s regional breakdown put the winning ticket in Alberta outside Calgary and Edmonton. For two weeks, people guessed which small-town store had sold it.
None had. The ticket was bought online, and the winners are from Calgary.
Read more: $90 Million Lotto Max Jackpot Won in Alberta
Do they pay tax on it?
No. Lottery winnings aren’t taxed in Canada, so each of them keeps the full $22.5 million. Whatever the money earns once it’s invested, like interest, dividends or capital gains, is taxable.
Not the only winners that night
Twelve other tickets sold across the Prairies won at least $33,000 in the Oct. 20 draw, and two $1 million Maxmillions prizes went to tickets sold in Alberta. The 13 Prairie winning tickets from that draw were worth more than $91.4 million combined.
If gambling is causing problems for you or someone you know, Alberta’s Addiction Helpline offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day at 1-866-332-2322.
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