When Calmar, Alta., resident Andrew Burke learned he had won the lottery last month, he knew he was about to win it again.
When Andrew Burke learned he had won the lottery last month, he knew he was about to win it again.
Burke was at the Fas Gas in Calmar, Alta., where he regularly buys lottery tickets, when he asked the clerk to check his ticket.
She did, and the counter staff erupted.
“The owner walked in and said, ‘Have you broken my machine, Andrew?’ ” Burke told CBC News.
“I said, ‘I don’t know. What’s up, bud?’
“He said, ‘You’ve won $2.5 million.’ I said, ‘You’d better check that other ticket, because that’s a winner as well.’ “
Burke accidentally bought two tickets for the Sept. 16 LOTTO 6/49 draw using the same numbers. So in effect, he split the draw’s top prize of $5 million, which he would have won regardless, with himself.
“Two people won the lottery,” he said. “It just happens both of them are me.”
‘I just won five million bucks’
Once Burke returned home, he called his wife, Christine, asking her to pick up some takeout for dinner on her way home.
When she arrived, he sat her down.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
She assumed immediately he had quit his job.
“I said, ‘Do you remember when we got married what your father said in his speech? He said, ‘I always wanted my daughter to marry a millionaire. I got the next best thing, a man who spends money like a millionaire.’
“She said, ‘You haven’t.’
“I said, ‘Yes. I just won five million bucks.’ “
Burke said he’s taking the win in stride.
“I’m 63 years old with two replacement knees and a bad back,” he said.
“I always wanted a Porsche 911. But the problem with that is, I can’t get in one. And if I did get in one, I couldn’t get out of one.”
All he’s ever wanted from a lottery win is to keep his home in the town 22 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, restore his Land Rover and retire — which he did four days after his win, Burke said.
“That’s it. Fix the house the way we want it and live comfortably for the rest of our lives.”