Success

Canadian landscaper won $60 million lottery after playing same numbers for 30 years

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Canadian lottery winner Bon Truong poses with a sign for Lotto Max, the game he played to win a $60 million jackpot.
Source: Western Canada Lottery Corporation

Success requires persistence, but sometimes it also takes quite a bit of patience.

That's a lesson Bon Truong knows all too well. Truong, a landscaper from Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, has come forward to claim a $60 million lottery jackpot that he won with the same combination of numbers he's been playing for nearly 30 years, he told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.

Truong, who reportedly immigrated to Canada from Vietnam in 1983, long ago compiled the winning numbers — 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 20 and 30 — based on a combination of important dates and family birthdays, he says. Now, after a few decades of playing those numbers, he's a multimillionaire, according to a press release from the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC).

The moment he realized his longtime numbers had finally hit the big jackpot, Truong says he could hardly believe what had happened.

"I went to the store and asked the clerk to print off the winning numbers — just to be sure," he tells WCLC. "I took the printout home and stared at the numbers and my ticket for hours that day. I could not believe it."

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Truong bought his winning lottery ticket in October 2018 at the Pure Casino Yellowhead in Edmonton, but he waited 10 months before claiming his prize because he wanted time to properly consider how such a large windfall would affect him and his family's lives.

"I started to think about what this win would mean for my family," he said. "I realized it's going to change a lot of things and I wanted to make sure we were all ready and prepared for those changes."

Now, 10 months later, Truong says he's finally prepared to accept the life-changing jackpot. "We're ready!" he tells WCLC.

In fact, Truong says his first plan of action will be to pay off his debts and buy a new home for his family. "The first thing I thought was, 'I'm going to be able to pay off everything!' and I was happy just to do that," he says.

He also plans to take his family on a long vacation, though he doesn't yet know where they'll go. "I'm not sure where just yet; I think we'll try to go everywhere," he tells lottery officials.

One thing Truong is sure of, though, is that he still plans to return to his job as a landscaper once his family's vacation is over. "I'm still young. I'm still strong… " Truong reportedly said at a news conference. "But right now with the money coming, I will take a lot of time, take care of my family and still work after I'm done this. After everything is done, I will go back to work."

What's more, lottery winners in Canada are not legally required to report their winnings to government tax authorities, which means Truong is unlikely to face a tax hit as a result of his jackpot (certain exceptions apply, including when winnings earn interest, according to TurboTax Canada). That's a big difference from the U.S., where lottery winnings are treated as taxable income and lottery officials are required to withhold 24% of your jackpot for federal taxes in addition to local taxes that vary from state to state.

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