First comes baby, and then comes $70 million.
Iroquois Falls, Ont., couple Jennifer Stuart-Flynn and Kyle Murray had just welcomed a newborn to their family when days later they won $70 million in the Aug. 20 Lotto Max draw.
Stuart-Flynn, 33, and Murray, 39, had just returned from a Toronto hospital where their baby was delivered after a high-risk pregnancy and Murray was at the Timmins airport to pick up his mother coming to help with the baby.
Stuart-Flynn texted her husband asking him to buy a Lotto Max ticket after seeing on social media that the jackpot was at $70 million.
Murray, who is originally from the U.S., had never bought a lottery ticket in Canada, so he asked the retailer for some help and purchased his very first Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 Quick Pick tickets with Encore.
After Stuart-Flynn heard the jackpot-winning ticket was sold in the Timiskaming/Cochrane region she decided to check their ticket.
“I scanned the ticket on the OLG App and heard the ‘Winner/Gagnant’ win tone,” she told OLG.
“I was in shock and not processing what was happening, so I shut down the OLG App and reopened it. I checked the ticket again and heard the same thing. That’s when I called out to Kyle!”
Murray, who works from home in the financial technology industry, says he was busy with work when he heard his wife call out his name.
“I looked at her phone and read ‘$70 million winner,’ but I was trying to figure out if it was displaying the maximum prize or if we actually won $70 million,” he told OLG.
“I felt light-headed and that sensation ran through my whole body!”
Kyle’s mom was with the couple at the time and was the first person to hear the news so they decided to go out for a secret celebration at a local restaurant.
For now, the couple — who have declined any media interviews — is thoughtfully thinking about what to do with the huge windfall.
Stuart-Flynn said previously she dreamed about winning the lottery and buying her sister a new house so that’s at the top of her to-do list.
“My sister is the most kind, loving, and generous person in the world, so I want to make sure she is taken care of,” she told OLG.
Next, the couple want to ensure that their children have a wonderful life.
“We want to buy some land to set up a little farm with chickens and a highland cow,” said Murray. “We hope it will be a place where the kids can have fun and will want to return to as they get older.”
He added: “The last few years have been a struggle, and everything we did was to make a better life for the kids.”
Added Stuart-Flynn: “I realize my kids are going to have a much better life than I had and that makes me the most emotional. They are set and won’t have to wonder or worry about anything anymore.”
The $70-million winning Lotto Max ticket was bought at Esso on Algonquin Boulevard in Timmins.