Canadian retirement home residents win big lottery prize

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2005

OTTAWA (AFP) — An elderly couple living in a small town retirement home redefined the term "old money" this month by winning 7.5 million dollars (6.3 million US) in a sweepstakes, lottery officials announced.

Victor and Thelma Hayes, both 89, had bought tickets regularly for the biweekly government lottery "as long as they can remember," an Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation spokesperson told AFP. The lottery was introduced in 1975.

They had won a few small prizes in the past, no more than 1,000 dollars (835 US) before finally winning the big draw on August 6.

"I checked my ticket in the newspaper... the numbers seemed to light up in front of me," Victor Hayes said in a news release.

He would like to buy himself a new luxury car, Thelma some new...