A St. John's couple is feeling a little easier about retirement after their free ticket turned out to be a big winner in last Friday's LottoMax.
Dave King’s Saturday morning at his cabin in Broad Cove ended with a clean shed and the realization his free Lotto Max ticket was worth $500,000. After the cleanup, King went to the local convenience store to return some recyclables and remembered to check his lottery tickets, one of which was a free ticket.
“The store was full of people and I had no idea I had a winner, let alone a $500,000 winner,” King said.
“There was a lot of excitement and I just wanted to get back to the cabin to show Trudy.” King refers to Trudy Kelly as his better half and says she was excited at the possibility of winning 1/10 of the prize.
“When he got back to the cabin I looked at the ticket and was super excited as I thought we won $50,000,” Kelly said. “Then Dave said ‘Look a little closer, it’s a half million dollars.'"
The couple won half of one of the MaxMillions prizes offered as part of the LottoMax June 8 draw.
Neither King, who drives a courier van, nor Kelly, who works in the accounting office at a local law firm, had any plans for early retirement.
“I always joked with my buddies at the cabin that my retirement plan is called Freedom 105,” King said. “I definitely don’t have to work that long now.”
“Retirement will be more of a choice now,” Kelly said. “This money gives us a lot of peace of mind and freedom to retire when we are ready.”
The couple also plans to do some home renovations and to take their six-year-old grandson on a special trip.
“He’s a huge Boston Bruins fan, so we will plan a trip to Boston to see the Bruins play a hockey game at home in the fall. He will be so excited.” Dave said.
Need’s Convenience, Ropewalk Lane, St. John’s sold the winning ticket and will receive a one per cent seller’s prize.
