Updated: Sun Mar. 28 2010 11:30:38

ctvedmonton.ca

Witnesses who watched a woman roll up her lottery ticket and stick it back in her handbag after she was told it was worth more than $20 million, say they were more excited about the win than she was.

Ernie Dorman says he and his wife went to the Esso gas station near 50th Street and 98th Avenue to claim two scratch and win tickets Friday evening when a woman checked her lotto 6/49 ticket.

"There was a woman at the counter talking to the clerk and apparently she had a winning ticket and they thought it was $2 million and then my wife…looked at the ticket and it turned out to be $20 million, not $2 million," said Dorman.

Dorman says the woman who appeared to be in her late 20s or early 30s took the news very calmly. "We were more exited than she was," he said.

"She just rolled it up like an old shopping list and put it in her shoulder bag," said Dorman. "You'd think a security guard would pop out of the woodwork and would escort her home…because God only knows she is probably in a state of shock."

The clerk who validated the ticket, Sushil Garg, also took down the name and number of the winner.  He says she is a regular customer who often buys lottery tickets at the gas station.  

Garg said the woman was speechless when she realized she had won.

"She didn't have a word to say," said Garg.  "People around her were more excited than her."

The woman told Dorman she was from Yellowknife, but didn't offer up much more information about herself.

Dorman says he hopes the woman signed the back of the ticket and get's the proper advice to claim her winnings.

As for Dorman's scratch and win tickets, his winnings were only $6, but he isn't complaining. He says he was happy to have seen a little piece of history.

"It was nice to come close to it, at least I touched it," said Dorman. 

The woman's ticket was one of two winning tickets for the $41 million 6/49 jackpot, drawn on March 20.

The other $20.6 million ticket has been claimed by Bonnie Pierce of London, Ontario. Pierce, a part-time grocery clerk who made $12 an hour only had $80 left in her bank account when she won.  The woman says her ex-husband left her financially distraught. 

Gaming officials say the Edmonton winner has not yet claimed her prize. 

"Sometimes people will know they have winner, but they are just not emotionally prepared to deal with it, they need to take some time to get their heads around it," said Andrea Marantz, Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications for the Western Canada Lottery Corporation.

Marantz says it is not uncommon for people to wait; in some cases winners have waited up until the last week to claim their money.

Winners have up to a year to collect their prize.

Please Add Comments

Amber
What a great idea Sam!!

Darrin, Calgary
The monitor at the lotto retailer stated she'd won $20M?

Talk about a security issue - what if she sere mugged and killed in the parking lot? What would stop some "bad guy" from claiming the ticket was his/hers? Most people don't sign a ticket unless it's a winner, and lets face it; with industrial cleansers that will remove ink without a trace of damage to the underlying paper, what barrier is that?.

People have been murdered for thousands - how many desperate people would jump at murder for the chance of claiming millions?

Susan Fairbairn
Hopefully, this young woman gets very wise advice and, in turn, uses the money in a wise and careful way so that she still has the money when she becomes a senior.

Sam
I agree. I think that there should be an option where you give...say 10% of your big winnings to a charitable organization just for the option to remain anonymous. With money...does come with a lot of problems.

Congrats to the winner.

garebeargm@hotmail.com
My aunt and cousin had purchased a ticket and won big. They live in a smaller city.

They received so many phone calls they had to turn off their phone. My uncle is very aggressive and handled all those who suddenly wanted to be his friend.

Very smart of the woman. When you have money you suddenly have a lot of friends.

I wish there was some way to be anonymous with a big win. It can create a lot of unexpected problems.

fabian
I always ask for a printed paper copy of the winning numbers just for this reason. Who knows who is standing beside you and what they may do in that situation?

carebaer
I think she did the right thing by NOT getting all excited about it in front of people. I would like to think I would have tried to do the same thing if it were me, not NOT draw attention to myself and keep both myself and my winning lottery ticket safe. Good for her!