A group of 10 Windsor hospital workers are sharing a $5.8 million win from the April 1 Lotto 6/49 draw.
The total jackpot that night was $35 million and was shared among six winning tickets.
Each member of the group holding the winning ticket will take home just under $582,800.
The winners include; Deborah Mailloux, Brandon Marion, Christopher Ard, Lawrence Lauzon, Mark Ranson, Paul Baggio, Sharad Sharma and Stephanie Seguin, all of Windsor, and Christopher McCurdy, and Stephen Walach of Amherstburg.
Speaking at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto, Marion said, “We found out about our win the day after April Fool's day and I thought one of my friends was playing a joke on me.”
Mailloux heads the group and says she usually checks the numbers a week after the draw when she buys the next ticket, but heard the winner was from Windsor.
"When I got home my husband was checking his ticket so I asked him to check our group ticket as well. Suddenly he said, ‘Oh my God, you got all six numbers. You won!'”
They first thought they'd won second prize - $92,000 - and were excited, but after further investigation they discovered it was $5.8 million.
The group has been playing for decades, and three have been playing for over 25 years, a recently retired Sharma said.
He was overseas in India when he heard the good news and flew back immediately.
In addition to their own plans, the group plans to contribute to a memorial garden at the hospital in honour of a former colleage who passed away from cancer.
Sharma added, “He once said to me, ‘We only have to win once."
