There were 56 Maxmillions draws, worth $1 million apiece, for the Oct. 26 Lotto Max draw.
Not all of those draws produced a winner, but one of the winning tickets belonged to Lynn and Dale Brady of Carlyle.
And they’re looking forward to the opportunities the windfall will create.
Saskatchewan Lotteries announced on Friday that the couple had won $1 million through Maxmillions.
Lynn purchased the couple’s winning ticket at Carlyle Convenience and Gas, located on Main Street in Carlyle. Their winning numbers were 4, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28 and 29.
She describes herself as a random lottery player, although she does make a point to buy a ticket when the jackpots are at their highest level. But her biggest win prior to last month was a free prize draw.
She didn’t have the ticket checked from the Oct. 26 draw until five days later.
“I was pretty calm, because I didn’t believe it,” said Brady. “I had bought gas at the service station in Carlyle, and I haven’t ever won before and I’m a random buyer, so I just took my ticket in and checked it while I was waiting to pay for gas.
“It came up on the screen ‘major winner,’ and that’s really all I saw. The people behind me saw how much it was, and they were more excited than I was.”
Lynn expects she will continue to purchase tickets at random times. She does have a ticket for the Nov. 23 draw, which has a jackpot of $60 million and 21 Maxmillion draws.
The numbers for the ticket she won with were selected at random through a quick pick, and she finds it hard to believe she could have won with six of seven numbers in the 20s.
“I don’t think anyone would ever pick those numbers (together),” said Lynn.
She noted that it didn’t take long for other people to find out about her win. The person behind her in the lineup did a Snapchat video of her once he realized that she had won. By the time Lynn reached her daughter’s office a few blocks away, her daughter had received the Snapchat video from a friend.
“It didn’t take too long for the news to spread in a small town,” she said.
Some friends from Calgary texted their congratulations to her before Dale knew, because he at their farm, working on some chores.
Dale also had a hard time believing their good luck.
“Lynn called to tell me we won,” he said. “I said, ‘Yeah, right. Today is Halloween, not April Fool’s Day.’”
Now that they know their win is real, the happy couple said they have started thinking about what to do with the money.
“Christmas is coming up, so we’re going to make sure it’s a nice one,” said Lynn. “More than anything, this win will make our retirement easier, and that’s a great feeling.”
The Thirds have three adult children and eight grandchildren.
The couple spends some time travelling in the winter months, and they hope that this money will also help them enjoy that time away even more.
