Canadian Teen Wins $48M From Her Very First Lottery Ticket Purchase

teenager Juliette Lamour is now Can$48M (US $35.8M) richer after winning a 6/49 quick-pick lottery game. She is the youngest person ever to win such a large amount.

Lamour began her birthday celebration a little more wholesome: by sharing some ice cream with her grandfather, according to SooToday.com, a news site. Lamour s grandfather suggested they buy a ticket to celebrate her 18th birthday.

She chose Circle K, a nearby gas station and convenience store.

I had never bought a ticket before, so I called my dad who told me to buy a Lotto 6/49 QuickPick,” the 18-year-old Algoma University student said in a statement from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.

She put the ticket away. Then, a pharmacist at the Rexall pharmacy where the two worked told her he heard the January 7 winning ticket was sold in Sault Ste. Marie, Lamour’s hometown.

So the two scanned the numbers on her ticket using a lottery app. The “Winner/Gagnant” jingle began to play, the Independent newspaper reported. The words “Big Winner” simultaneously appeared on the phone’s screen.

Her winning jackpot was announced on Friday. She won the Ontario game last month.

Lamour began to cry “happy tears,” she explained while speaking with the media at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. office. She immediately called her mother with the good news. Her mom screamed, initially in disbelief.

Lamour’s mother advised her to finish her shift where the teen worked as a part-time pharmacist s assistant. With encouragement from her work colleagues, her parents soon came to take her home and celebrate the win.

Her father, Kevin, is a financial planner, so he will advise her carefully on where to invest the winnings, Lamour said.

Lamour also will have no problem now paying the tuition to prepare her for her dream career: becoming a physician. She was planning to use tuition assistance provided to members of Canada’s Garden River First Nation.

But now, those scholarships can go to another worthy nation member. Lamour still plans on becoming a physician.

I really want to come back to this area as a doctor so I can give back to my community,” she said. “Money doesn’t define you. It’s the work you do that will define you.”

For the immediate future, she wants to use some of the jackpot to travel with her family this coming summer.