An electrician from Union Bay on Vancouver Island is British Columbia’s latest big lottery winner.
Rod Bitten has been busy with his home renovations lately, so he signed up for a lottery subscription through PlayNow so he wouldn’t miss a draw.
“I usually buy them at a retailer,” said Bitten.
“But we’ve been doing renovations on the house, so it’s possible without the subscription that I never would have bought a ticket for that day.”
Well, it’s a good thing he did, because Bitten won an ‘Extra’ $500,000 in the Lotto Max draw on Jan. 15.
He was sitting down for dinner when he decided to check his PlayNow account.
“When I saw my account balance had $500,000 extra in it, I couldn’t believe it,” he explained. “My wife was there with me and said she wasn’t going to believe it until I phoned BCLC.”
Once it was confirmed, Bitten and his wife were so “overwhelmed with joy” that they started hugging and crying.
“The first thing we said was that we would no longer have to worry about our mortgage,” said Bitten.
He called $500,000 “an absolute game changer” and the fact that they can now say they own their home is “just amazing.”
