Putting the ‘win’ in Winnipeg: nursing home coworkers claim $5M LOTTO 6/49 prize

WINNIPEG – If luck truly be a lady, as the saying goes, then it was only a matter of time before Manitoba’s latest lottery winners claimed a big prize.

Six nursing home coworkers, five women and one man, are still trying to wrap their heads around their $5-million dollar win following last Friday’s LOTTO 6/49 draw.

“It’s unbelievable – it still doesn’t feel real. I feel like I’m dreaming,” said Marie Saltel, who claimed the prize on behalf of the group.

Saltel says every Friday she picks up the lottery tickets for herself, Cheryl Norman, Karan Lajoie, Karen Roche, Tuan Anh Pham, and Louise Pinel–a ritual this group of coworkers has been doing for a decade.

She was also the one to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket for the group the day before the draw.

And with 10 years of losing tickets, Satel says it was hard to convince the team that they’d actually won–and won big.

“At first I just couldn’t believe it, so when my son came home I asked him to check the numbers as well. Then when he confirmed I phoned Cheryl and told her – and she thought I was joking,” recalled Saltel.

“Everyone I told thought I was joking. But they believe it now!”

The last few months since the pandemic hit, times have been stressful for the lucky six, so the windfall comes as a huge relief.

Saltel says she and her fellow winners all plan to use the money to help with retirement plans, help family members out, and to do some home renos.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “One day things are normal, and the next day everything changes.”