‘Is this real?’ Winner of April Fools’ Day lottery prize didn’t believe it at first
A woman in western Canada won a huge prize during a lottery drawing on April Fools’ Day — but she and her family didn’t believe it at first.
The night of the lottery drawing, Thelma Florence felt a buzz in her hometown of Hope, British Columbia, the B.C. Lottery Corporation said in an April 12 news release.
Florence checked her lottery ticket the next morning and was shocked to learn she’d won a prize of $1 million Canadian (about $743,870), lottery officials said.
“I thought, ‘Is this real? Me? Really?’” she told lottery officials. But Florence wasn’t the only one having trouble believing the good news was real.
“I sent a screenshot of the (lottery) app into the family group chat and everyone wondered if it was a late April Fools’ Day joke,” Florence said in the release.
With the prize money, Florence plans to buy a new green car — her favorite color — and help buy vehicles for her grandchildren, she told lottery officials.
Florence “is a member of the Chawathil First Nation and a Survivor of residential school at St. Mary’s Mission and Residential School,” the release said.
Canada’s residential schools were a network of Christian boarding schools sponsored by the government during the 1800s and 1900s, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. The country’s last boarding school closed in 1996, according to the encyclopedia.
“The main goal of the system was to assimilate Indigenous children into white, Christian society,” per the encyclopedia. This was accomplished by “forcibly” removing First Nation children from their parents and homes and placing them in schools where “abuse was common.”
“Thousands died either at school, or because of their experiences in the system,” according to the encyclopedia. “Many more remain missing.”
Florence shares her story of survival and childhood experiences at schools in British Columbia to “promote awareness,” lottery officials said.
Florence won her prize playing the Lotto 6/49, the release said. This lottery game involves prize drawings twice a week.
In one of the drawings, players can win either “the Guaranteed Prize of $1 million (Canadian), or the growing Gold Ball Jackpot that starts at $10 million (Canadian),” officials explained. The other drawing “offers a prize that is always $5 million (Canadian),” the release said.
Hope is in the province of British Columbia and about 95 miles east of Vancouver.
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 8:56 AM with the headline "‘Is this real?’ Winner of April Fools’ Day lottery prize didn’t believe it at first."
