SYDNEY, N.S. — It was a sleepless night for an Eskasoni mother-of-two after winning Set for Life.
Lucinda Paul purchased a scratch ticket in her hometown around 4:30 a.m. after getting her boys, ages 2 and three-months old, to bed. It was then she noticed something unusual about the ticket she had bought.
“It was dark, and my kids were sleeping, so I had the bathroom door open for a little bit of light,” said Paul.
“It said words, so I ran to the bathroom and I went to check, and I was like ‘Uh-oh.’ It said, Set for Life on the prize.”
At first, Paul thought her eyes were deceiving her.
She and her boyfriend then proceeded to bicker over whether the placement of three sunglass icons meant the ticket was a winner.
“At first I thought ‘Oh it’s not real,’” she said.
Wanting to ensure the ticket’s safety, Paul put it under her pillow as she waited to deliver it to Atlantic Lottery’s head office in Moncton, N.B.
Paul opted to take a lump sum payment of $675,000 over the option of receiving $1,000 a week for 25 years.
The 29-year-old said she plans to stretch her winnings to make them last. Taking care of her family and her sons’ futures were listed as top priorities.
Paul has already purchased a truck for herself, a full-size SUV for her mother and ATVs for her brothers.
A regular ticket purchaser, Paul said she never actually thought she would win.
'The most I won was $500; that was it,” she said.
Paul accepted a giant cheque during a celebration with family and friends at Governor’s Pub & Eatery in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon.
The winning ticket was purchased at Eskasoni Trading Post, which will receive a one per cent seller’s prize.
Paul was not the only lotto winner on the island this month.
Phyllis Erickson of Sydney took home a $100,000 prize on TAG after purchasing a lottery ticket at Sobeys in Sydney on March 1.
On March 14, Howard Reid of Sydney also took home a $30,000 prize on a Scratch N Win ticket purchased at a Needs Convenience.
Coxheath couple Kathryn Martell and Ron Jordon picked up a $1-million guaranteed prize on a Lotto 6/49 draw on March 20.
But the biggest prize on the island was delivered March 7, when Angela Capstick MacNeil of Bras d’Or took home a cool $1.5-million won on Super Set for Life.
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