Striking it rich: Sask. lotto winners score big in 2016

A hardworking father and son from Saskatchewan put their good luck to good use this year.

In February, the pair from Goodsoil, west of Meadow Lake, won a $1-million lotto prize.That win helped save their family farm.

“I’ll be able to help my dad on the farm and not work for someone else for the rest of my life,” the son told the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) at the time.

Their ticket was one of eight bought in the province that fetched a prize of $1-million or more in 2016.

On Wednesday, the WCLC released its breakdown of prairie winners who became millionaires this year.

There were 38 winners in Alberta who took home a total of more than $130 million. Manitoba had 11 winners, eight of them from Winnipeg.

Combined, the prizes total more than $218 million.

The two biggest wins of the year went to women from small towns.

In August, Mary Wernicke from Neville, Saskatchewan – population 83 – claimed a record Lotto Max prize worth $60 million. 

Before Wernicke’s big win, the record for a lottery jackpot won in the province was $40 million. That Lotto Max ticket was purchased August 2011 in Paradise Hill.

The second biggest prairie win for 2016 happened this month when a woman from Irma, Alta. – population 500 –  won a $50-million Lotto Max prize.

Still one more millionaire

While eight winning tickets were bought in Saskatchewan, one jackpot is still waiting to be claimed.

A lotto 6/49 ticket purchased in Saskatoon for the Aug.31 draw won $5 million, but no one has come forward yet.

The winning numbers for that draw were 8, 10, 17, 36, 39 and 44.

The winner – or winners – have one year from the draw date to claim the prize.