A Canadian man became $5 million ($7 million CAD) richer after winning the British Columbia Lottery, but he has no plans to leave his job as a janitor.
Just a few days after celebrating his 58th birthday, Vito Halasan matched all six numbers to win the jackpot from the April 27 draw.
“I have really blurry vision, so I had to hold the ticket right up to my face,” Halasan said in a release. “I couldn’t believe it.”
He called his daughter in a panic after realizing what had happened.
“He sat me down at the table,” his daughter said. “And then he whispered really quietly to me that he won $7 million [in Canadian dollars].”
But she didn’t believe him.
“We had to check online several times,” she said.
Halasan’s family moved to Canada from the Philippines in 2009. Now, he says he can provide the life he has dreamed of for his three children and four grandchildren.
He’s buying them a house.
“I buy lottery tickets, so I can dream,” Halasan said. “I dream of being able to take care of my kids and make their future better.”
And while he’s not quitting, Halasan said he’ll probably scale back his hours.
Australian Man Wins $1 Million Lottery Using Numbers Seen in a Dream 13 Years Ago
An Australian man in his 40s won a $ 1 million lottery on May 8 using numbers he saw in a dream 13 years ago.
“I checked my ticket online and discovered the news. I was just stunned. I’ve just had to let it sink in a bit,” he said.
The winner claimed the prize on May 13. “It took a bit to get over it!” he said.
The man whose identity has not been disclosed because he wishes to remain anonymous takes home the guaranteed division one prize of $1 million, said a media release by The Lott, Australia’s Official Lotteries.
“I’ve been playing these numbers for 13 years. I dreamt them one night–they appeared in my dream,” the man said in the release.
“I woke up and wrote them down, and I’ve been playing them ever since. I thought one day I would see them all there. I hadn’t given up on them! They’ve won other prizes over the years, but this is the biggest prize so far,” he said.
The man purchased the winning ticket at East Devonport Newsagency, 71 Wright Street, East Devonport and the team at the 0utlet were excited that one 0f their customers won a big amount.
“This is the first time we’ve sold a division one winning entry since we bought the store three and a half years ago,” said East Devonport Newsagency owner, Jasmine Burton.
“We’ll be decorating the store to ensure all of our customers know we’ve sold a division one winning entry. We are sure they will be happy for the winner and it will give them hope that they too can win big. We hope the win brings our customer joy and gives them the ability to live a more comfortable life,” she said.
$768 Million Powerball Winner Told to Disappear
The attorney for a 24-year-old Wisconsin man who won the $768 million Powerball jackpot said he advised him to disappear.
Andrew Stoltmann, his attorney, told Manuel Franco to disappear from the public eye and on social media, TMJ4 reported.
“He has good common sense,” said Stoltmann. “That was my strongest advice possible.”
The attorney said that most lottery winners have a less than 50 percent chance of keeping their winnings.
“Seventy percent of all lottery winners end up broke within five years of winning the lottery,” said Stoltmann.
Franco, in a press conference this week, said he is planning to help his parents and help some family members finish college.
“I really just wanted to travel the world and stuff like that,” he was quoted by TMJ4 as saying. “I’m not a big guy that’s going to go buy fancy stuff like, well of course I might go buy fancy stuff, but nothing too big.”
According to WISN, Franco, who used to work at Target in New Berlin, will take home more than $326 million.
Franco, before his win, had $1,000 in his bank account, CNBC reported, adding that it was his “biggest concern.”
“It’s a weird lucky feeling. It’s not natural, not normal at all,” Franco told reporters, saying that he “felt lucky” when he bought his ticket at a Speedway in New Berlin. The report said he winked at the gas station security camera when he bought the ticket.
But the pressure on Franco will come soon, if not already, according to another lawyer.
“For the next two weeks, people are going to be outside of his house,” Jason M. Kurland, a lawyer who represented other large lottery winners, told The New York Times.
But even so, it’s nearly impossible to achieve privacy or anonymity.
“It is very hard to participate in civil life and be anonymous,” Albert Gidari, the privacy director of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, told the Times.
He added: “You can’t buy a car in cash and avoid disclosing who you are because now car dealers are financial institutions,” Gidari said, adding that it’s impossible to transfer money out of the country without telling the government.
The CNN Wire, Epoch Times reporter Venus Upadhayaya, and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
