Trevor and Amber Mullins had just paid off their wedding, and were starting to plan the honeymoon, when Trevor checked his Lotto 6/49 ticket.
"I thought, 'Great, maybe we won a few thousand,'" the Halifax man told Atlantic Lottery.
It was $1 million.
"Then we figured out we had won the Gold Ball draw for $1 million," Trevor said, "and then Amber cried for four hours."
Amber couldn't stop pacing, so the newlyweds went for a walk around Halifax to let it sink in.
"I was excited because my whole life just changed," Trevor said. "Every money problem I ever had went away."
The timing couldn't have been better
Trevor's ticket won the Sept. 12 Gold Ball draw.
"We just got done paying off our wedding and I wanted to start planning for my retirement soon," he said. "It couldn't have come at a better time in my life."
Most of it is going to family
The couple will upgrade the honeymoon to a luxury resort. But most of the money isn't for them.
Trevor plans to pay off both of his daughters' student loans, start an education fund for his grandson, and invest for retirement.
"All I want to do is make their lives a little bit easier," he said, "and it's a proud moment when you can do that for your kids."
There's one splurge. Trevor is buying the car he's always dreamed of, a yellow Corvette.
"I never would have had this opportunity before," he said.
Bought at a Halifax Circle K
Trevor bought the winning ticket at the Circle K on Inglis Street in Halifax.
The store gets a seller's prize of 1 per cent of the win, or $10,000.
Is the $1 million taxed?
No. The Canada Revenue Agency says lottery winnings generally aren't taxable income, so the Mullinses keep the full $1 million.
What the money earns afterward is different. If they invest it and it earns interest or dividends outside a registered account, that income is taxable.
Can he pay off his daughters' loans tax-free?
Yes. Canada doesn't have a general gift tax. The CRA says most gifts aren't counted as income for the person receiving them, so Trevor's daughters won't owe tax on money he gives them to pay off their loans.
Ottawa can add to his grandson's education fund
If Trevor puts the money into a Registered Education Savings Plan, or RESP, for his grandson, the federal government will top it up.
Through the Canada Education Savings Grant, Ottawa adds 20 per cent of the first $2,500 contributed each year. That's $500 a year on a $2,500 deposit.
If past years' grant room wasn't used, a child can get up to $1,000 in a single year. Lower- and middle-income families may qualify for more. The lifetime maximum is $7,200 per child.
Grandparents can open an RESP for a grandchild.
How the Gold Ball works
The Gold Ball draw is separate from Lotto 6/49's classic $5-million jackpot. Every Wednesday and Saturday, one Gold Ball number is guaranteed to win.
Then a ball is drawn. A white ball means the winner gets $1 million. The gold ball means the winner gets the full Gold Ball jackpot, which starts at $10 million and grows every draw until it's won.
On Sept. 12, a white ball came out.
Last month, a Surrey, B.C., man found out his ticket was worth $32 million, after first thinking he'd won $32,000. Read that story here.
Sources
Atlantic Lottery, prize winner announcement, September 2026
Lottery winnings and gifts, Canada Revenue Agency
Canada Education Savings Grant, Government of Canada
Comments
Conversation