A teenager named Juliette Lamour who lives in Ontario, Canada bought a lottery ticket for the very first time in her life and won the biggest lottery prize.
The youngest Canadian purchased the lottery ticket just for fun and after her grandfather’s advice she decided to give it a try on her 18th birthday.
As per the Good Morning America, “She decided to give it a go — but to her and her family’s great surprise, Lamour didn’t just end up winning a small amount, she won the entire LOTTO 6/49 Gold Ball payout from the Jan. 7 draw — a whopping $48 million Canadian dollars (roughly $35.7 million).”
18-year-old Lamour is pharmacist’s assistant and was busy in her working when she won the lottery prize as her boss checked her ticket number on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) app and discovered that Lamour was the one who won the prize.
While recalling the moment between the prize-receiving ceremony at the OLG she said, “The pharmacist, his hands went to his head, and he fell on his knees. He’s like, ‘Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!’”
“I was so in shock. … He showed me the phone. He’s like, ‘You just won this!’ I’m like, ‘How many zeroes is that? Let me count!’”
She further said, “I called my mom, and she answered the phone. I’m like, ‘I won the lottery!’ She’s like, ‘No, you didn’t!’”
“My co-workers were behind me. They’re telling my mom, ‘Come and get her! Come and get her!’ She came to my work, and I gave her the ticket. I was so scared. I already signed it all shaky.”
Now the university student has become the first ever youngest who won such a huge amount of money in Canadian lottery history.
Furthermore, the amazing thing about her story is that in the year 2010, the 18-year-old resident of Sault Ste. Marie and her sister named Sophie emptied their piggybank because they both were determined to help the peoples of Haiti, who suffered from the deadliest earthquake in 2010.
According to Soo reports, “It was late-January 2010. Juliette Lamour had recently turned 5, her sister Sophie was 2½, and a catastrophic earthquake had just rocked Haiti, killing tens of thousands of innocent people and leaving much of the country in ruins,”
“Rushing to raise money for relief efforts, the Sault Ste. Marie branch of the Canadian Red Cross had set up a table at the Gardens to collect fan donations during a Greyhounds game.”
Both the sisters, who wanted to help the victims of Haiti in their difficult time emptied their piggybank and managed to donate almost $61.38 during that time.
As per the OLG, the teen loves travelling and wants to see the whole world after completing her school.
“Once school is done, my family and I will pick a continent and start exploring,” she told.
“I am not a ‘sit on the beach’ type of person. I want to experience different countries, study their history and culture, try their food, and listen to their language.”
“Money doesn’t define you,” she said in her statement. “It’s the work you do that will define you.”
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Sources: OLG – Soo Today – Good Morning America