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Maple Ridge man stashed winning ticket in a safety box for a year. You're a 24-year-old guy from Maple Ridge and you just matched all the numbers on your 6/49 lottery ticket.
You just won $3.6 million.
What's the first thing you'd do?
Would you tuck the winning ticket in a safety deposit box?
For 49 weeks?
"I just needed some time to figure out what was going on, how it would affect me and the people around me," said Peter Dushop, the Maple Ridge realtor who finally picked up his cheque for $3,693,414 yesterday at B.C. Lottery Corp.'s Richmond headquarters.
The one-year deadline to collect on the ticket was just three weeks away.
"Winning $1,000 is exciting, but $3.6 million is kind of life-changing," said Dushop.
In his case, it wasn't life-changing right away.
He bought the ticket for last year's Aug. 15 draw, and a couple weeks later checked the ticket and realized he was a winner.
He signed the back, stuck it in a bank vault and kept on working.
He didn't buy a new car. He didn't buy a house.
He rents his place, "but that's going to change soon," he said with a smile as he folded his lottery cheque and slipped it away yesterday.
The only person who knew Dushop had become a multimillionaire was his mom.
Yesterday morning, he told his girlfriend to expect a big surprise.
If Dushop had cashed in his ticket 49 weeks ago, an interest rate of three per cent would have earned him about $100,000 on his winnings.
"I definitely thought about the interest, but in relation to the overall prize, I thought it was worth taking the time to just come to terms with everything," he said.
Now that he's taken almost a year to think, Dushop said he plans to take a vacation "somewhere hot" and invest his substantial winnings.
"I'm going to let the money grow -- it's never going to deplete," he said. "I'm a big believer in real estate."
He also plans to keep working.
"I want to keep things as they are. I really don't know if I know what's going on yet. There's still a bit of disbelief."
Tomorrow's Lotto 6/49 jackpot is an estimated $24 million.
Wendy McLellan, The Province
Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
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