A family who moved from Montreal to Calgary after 23 years won $1.36 million less than two weeks after arriving and now plans to buy a home.
A family who moved from Montreal, Quebec, to Calgary, Alberta, after 23 years in Montreal received an unexpected boost to their new beginning when they won $1,360,265.70 in the Lightning Lotto draw.
Ge Ann Bareng and her family had only been in Calgary for less than two weeks when they discovered the win. The family had moved west and were initially looking to furnish their new apartment. Now, they are planning something much bigger.
“We had just moved to Calgary from Montreal and were looking to furnish a new apartment,” Bareng said while claiming her prize. “Now we will be looking at buying a house.”
The family’s cross-country journey had included an unusual routine. During the drive from Montreal to Calgary, Bareng said they stopped at gas stations along the way to buy lottery tickets.
“We stopped at every gas station on the way to Calgary to buy a lottery ticket,” she said.
The winning ticket was eventually purchased during a shopping trip with her children at Save-On Foods on 51 Street N.W. in Calgary.
Bareng won the $1,360,265.70 prize by matching all five numbers in the July 16, 2024 Lightning Lotto draw: 7, 26, 28, 43 and 45.
The family initially struggled to comprehend the amount they had won.
“When we looked at the numbers, we couldn’t believe how many zeroes we saw,” Bareng said. “It took us three days to figure it out!”
The timing of the win was particularly significant for the family, who had been looking to build a new life in Alberta after spending 23 years in Montreal.
“We were trying to change our lives with a move to Alberta, and here we are with a life-changing win after not even two full weeks in Calgary,” Bareng said.
Her husband joked that things could have turned out differently if the win had happened earlier in their journey.
“If we’d won in Winnipeg, we might have stayed there,” he said.
The family now has a clear idea of how they want to use the money. Their plans include paying off debt, buying a house and a car, and putting money aside for their children’s future education.
“We now have the funds to send them to university in the future,” Bareng said. “I knew I made the right choice to move to Calgary, but now we can reset our lives here.”
Bareng said the family is particularly excited about what the win means for their children.
“We’re going to pay off our debt, buy a house and a car and put the rest away for our kids’ education.”
According to the Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Bareng was the first millionaire Lightning Lotto winner and held the record for the largest prize in Western Canada since the game launched in April 2024.
For a family beginning again in a new province after more than two decades in Montreal, the $1.36 million win has given their Calgary fresh start a very different outlook.
