People who enjoy buying lottery tickets will tell you the big excitement is the time before they check their numbers – when you have big hopes for winning life-changing money.
But only a few will experience winning a ginormous jackpot – something that happened to just six Greater Victoria residents in 2023.
Here’s the list:
Scott Gurney from Sidney won $55 million.
Lahsen Rezrazi and Debbie Ramsay from Victoria won $35 million, splitting a $70-million jackpot with a winning ticket in Ontario.
Heather Andrews from Sidney won the $5 million Classic Jackpot with her sister from Ontario.
Stacey and Raymond Donison from Victoria won the $5-million Classic Jackpot.
Overall, lottery players in British Columbia saw more than $859 million in total prizes paid out, including $112.3 million to players who redeemed winning tickets purchased on Vancouver Island.
BCLC sold more than 101-million winning tickets to players both at retail locations and on PlayNow.com — the province’s only legal gambling website.
“Surprise, delight, awe, joy, excitement – these are all words that our lottery winners have used to describe how they felt winning, so as 2023 comes to a close, we’re excited to look back and celebrate all of the life-changing dreams that became realties for our lottery winners,” said Pat Davis, BCLC President and CEO. “Thanks to our players, BCLC is proud to generate revenue for provincial services and initiatives that we all rely on like healthcare, education and community programs.”
Vancouver Island lottery highlights:
$112.3 million in total prizes paid to players.
17.8 million winning tickets redeemed.
13 grand prize-winning tickets redeemed, valued at $500,000 or more.
2 winning Lotto Max jackpot tickets redeemed.
In 2022/23, BCLC delivered a record $1.6 billion in net income to the Province of B.C., which distributed it in many ways to benefit British Columbians.