SASKATOON — After seeing that someone in Saskatoon had won $55 million on the Oct. 19 LOTTO MAX draw, Matthew Poppel called his friend and joked about one of them being the winner. Little did he know, he had actually won the massive jackpot.
“I called my buddy and said, ‘I saw you won the lottery; when can I expect my million dollars?’” he laughed while claiming his prize. “We laughed and were both like, ‘Yeah, right. Can you imagine?!’”
Poppel said after the call he went to work like usual that morning and checked his three LOTTO MAX tickets later on in the day using the Lotto Spot! app.
“The first one didn’t win anything, the second one won a Free Play and the last one said 55 followed by a bunch of zeroes,” he said. “I thought the app was just telling me the winning amount, not that my ticket had won that amount.”
“I did not think for a second that I had actually won $55 million,” he continued. “I did not expect that to be something that happened to me.”
Poppel said he’s going to take some time deciding what to do with his windfall, but said he has a couple of ideas for the immediate future.
“Whenever I thought about winning the lottery in the past, I’ve thought about what I would do if I won $1 million,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to retire on that, but I could help my parents to retire and I could help some people who are in a tough spot.”
“Well now I can help all of those people and my parents and my kids and myself,” he continued. “I can really help people now!”
Poppel said after he knows his family is set up financially, he is going to have some fun with his winnings.
“I was thinking – and joking – that I should buy a luxury vehicle just because I can,” he laughed. “But now I think it’s a good idea. I can buy it, so why not!?”
Poppel purchased his winning LOTTO MAX ticket at Pinnacle Gas & Food – Faithfull, located at 209A – 2750 Faithfull Ave. in Saskatoon. He won his prize by exactly matching the seven main draw numbers on the Oct. 19 draw – 12, 26, 28, 32, 41, 43 and 50.
Poppel’s win is the second-largest win in Saskatchewan’s history, coming in just behind a $60 million LOTTO MAX prize won by a Neville resident in August 2016. Before that, a Paradise Hill couple took home a $40 million LOTTO MAX prize in August 2011.
This is Saskatchewan’s third million-dollar or more lottery win in 2021. It is the province’s first multi-million-dollar LOTTO MAX win of the year.
