It would be pretty awesome to win $40,000 in the lottery, right? Then imagine finding out that you actually won $40,000,000 .
Maria Carreiro, a 51-year-old Toronto grandmother and former factory worker, was happy enough just thinking she had won 1/1000th of Friday’s $40 million Lotto Max jackpot. At the news conference at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission office, Carreiro said that she thought she had won $40,000 … later she discovered that she had actually won $40,000,000.
She recalled what happened at the conference :
“When I went to the machine I just see 40 because I’d never won this amount of money. I told [the clerk] can you check this for me please? He checks it. He doesn’t even know himself and he’s the store owner. I said ‘Never mind, I’ll go home.’
“I went home and I told my daughter, ‘Oh I won $40,000.’ She’s jumping off the bed too and then she calls her [sister] and says, ‘Mommy won $40,000.’
Though the family was happy enough, Carreiro’s daughter checked the numbers on the computer, and discovered that her mother had actually become a millionaire.
“She flew up the stairs. I run up the stairs, then I run down the stairs. She went on the computer and she checked the computer and she goes ‘Mommy, You’re $40-million richer.’ I’m like ‘No way, no way.’
She went back to the store (on foot) to check the numbers, confirming the good news for herself.
“And then I ran back up the street, back home and then I go, I need a glass of water.’ Let me go sit down and relax.”
But after that, Carreiro’s husband knew exactly what to do.
“On Monday, he told [his boss] ‘I quit!’”
Carreiro’s secret? She just asked for a quick pick ticket. She has her set of numbers, like almost every lottery hopeful , but she chose to let fate determine her chances.
She said that she plans on sharing her money with her three children and five grandchildren, purchasing a new home for herself and one for her daughter, getting some new clothes, and going on a Hawaii honeymoon . In the short term? Dinner with her family at the Mandarin All-You-Can-Eat Buffet.