18-year-old wins $48 million her first time playing the lottery

A $48 million lottery ticket was recently sold in Canada to someone who had never played the lottery before — because she had just turned 18. Juliette Lamour purchased the ticket at a Circle K store in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and found out she won on Jan. 7 while at work. 

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation presented Lamour with her massive check on Friday, calling her the youngest Canadian to ever win such a big jackpot through the lottery.

Lamour said it was her grandfather who suggested she buy a lotto ticket. “I had just turned 18 and my grandfather suggested I buy a lottery ticket for fun,” Lamour said at a media conference on Friday, according to OLG.

Lamour said she checked the ticket while at work on the lottery app and a jingle started to play, with “Big Winner” displayed on the screen. “My colleague fell to his knees in disbelief. He was screaming, in fact everyone was screaming that I had won $48 million,” she said, nearly $36 million USD. “At first, I didn’t understand what was going on. I couldn’t take in the news. We made quite a scene in the store that day.”

When she called her parents, she was sobbing and her mother couldn’t understand what she was saying. “Fortunately, my father managed to decode that I had won the jackpot in the lottery,” Lamour said. “I knew I couldn’t concentrate on my work anymore and my boss told me to go home, but my mom wanted me to finish my day.”

“My colleagues shouted ‘Come and get her,’ and my parents finally came,” she said. 

Lamour, who is from Sault Ste. Marie, says she hopes to become a doctor in Ontario after college. She said she plans to invest the money – and fortunately, her father is a financial planner.

She also plans on putting some of it towards a trip for her family. “When school is over, my family and I will choose a continent and go explore it,” she said. “I’m not one to spend my days at the beach. I want to visit different countries, learn about their history and culture, taste food and listen to people speak their language.”

“Money doesn’t define you,” Lamour said. “It’s the work you do that will define you.”