Lucky CA$1M Lottery Ticket Hidden in a Book Changed Quebec Couple’s Life

Sometimes Lady Luck might be throwing smiles in our direction but the everyday life gets in the way and we fail to recognize the signs. A similar thing happened to a Quebec couple that managed to cash their CA$1-million lottery ticket just in time before it was set to expire. The year-long delay occurred because the ticket was forgotten in a book they opened only to help their grandson with his homework.

Every single lottery draw comes with the warning that all players that have purchased a ticket for it should check their pockets, drawers, and anywhere in their houses for the said piece of paper and make sure they compare the numbers on the screen with the ones printed on it. For those who check their tickets at a later point, all previous draws are available online. This is the tool Nicole Pedneault and Roger Larocque utilized last weekend when they found out that they are millionaires.

The 100 $ Ultime Ticket Expires this Friday

Their lucky draw took place on April 5, 2018, but it was not until this past weekend that they finally found out that they are eligible for a small fortune. It all happened in a rather coincidental manner, as Mrs. Pedneault was about to help her grandson with a school project he had to finish.

In order to do so, he had to obtain more information about Japan and he sought help from his grandma. She had a book with extensive information on the subject, but what she did not know was that it also contained the fortunate ticket that would change their lives. The piece of paper had apparently been stuck between the pages and fell on the ground only after the book was opened.

Upon checking the expiration date, it turned out being April 5, 2019, and they were quick to check the numbers as well. This is when they realized that it is, in fact, a winning 100 $ ULTIME lottery ticket that has to be cashed in as soon as possible.

The Odds Were in Their Favor

The lottery ticket was purchased on February 14, 2018, and it is for one of the most popular lottery games in Quebec. The ticket itself costs CA$100 and grants 20 individuals with a CA$1-million prize. It features both an instant and a draw section, which gives players more than one chances of winning big. For those who become eligible for a cash prize, there is a one year period in which they could cash in the ticket.

For the Quebec couple, this time window was going to close this Friday so they were quick to claim their prize on Wednesday. It was all a matter of chance in their situation, evident by their smiles while accepting their big cheque with the prize written on it. This very lottery game is a relatively new Loto-Quebec offering, as the first batch of tickets went live on February 12, 2018.

Some 19 of those CA$1-million prizes are decomposable, meaning that even if they had not matched all six of the numbers, players still could bag a prize. For instance, tickets matching the last five digits of the number were able to bring their purchasers CA$10,000. For those matching four of the digits, the prize was CA$500.