Saving the best for last results in $675K scratch ticket

Article content

After scratching her first two $4 Set for Life Scratch ‘N Win tickets, Geraldine Botterill of Miramichi decided to save the last pair for another day.

When she finally did scratch them last Wednesday, one turned out to be a $675,000 winner.

“The last one was my favorite colour, purple, so I was saving it for last,” Botterill said in a news release from Atlantic Lottery announcing the win. “I didn’t get anything on the other tickets, and you always seem get two Set for Life symbols in a game, so I was just lackadaisically scratching and then all of a sudden, I looked again and I thought, ‘There’s the third one.’”

Botterill said she could barely believe what she was seeing.

“I started crying and hyperventilating and I called my brother and said, ‘I think I just won Set for Life,’” she said. “I didn’t come down off the ceiling all day.”

Winners can choose to receive weekly $1,000 payments for 25 years or a lump-sum payment of $675,000. Botterill opted for the latter.

“I went back to the store where I bought the ticket to have it validated and the cashier brought me around the back of the counter to look at the screen,” she said. “It showed what I had won and, again, I was crying. It was just so exciting.”

Botterill said she plans to spend her winnings to upgrade her home, buy a new car, plan a vacation or two, and enjoy financial security for the rest of her life. She works remotely part-time for a British Columbia consulting firm, and she said she now has the comfort of knowing she can retire eventually, although she enjoys her job and doesn’t plan to retire yet.

Botterill said she also has plans to throw a party for her friends to celebrate her windfall.

“I like sharing. It’s really nice to have the win but if you can’t share it with people around you, what’s the point?”

Botterill is the second New Brunswicker to win a Set for Life grand prize in a week. The first was Kim Campbell of Fredericton, whose winnings were announced Tuesday. Campbell also chose the $675,000 lump sum.

Botterill bought her winning ticket at Courtesy Convenience in Nordin. The seller will receive a one-per-cent seller’s prize.