The unlikelyhood of two winning lottery tickets from the same draw being sold in one community just got more unbelievable.
That's because the two tickets that each won $1,666,666.70 in the Sept. 30 Lotto 6/49 classic prize draw were purchased by a Port Moody woman who unwittingly played the same numbers twice.
Shannon Von Richter said she didn’t realize she’d already played her numbers for the draw when she bought a second ticket with the same numbers. Both winning tickets were purchased at the Thrifty Foods grocery store in Suter Brook Village.
Von Richter said she thought it was "weird" when she heard two of the three winning tickets in the draw had been purchased in Port Moody. The other was from Ontario.
"What are the chances that two people in Port Moody won with the same numbers?" she said.
But Von Richter was even more incredulous when she checked her numbers online and discovered she had both local winners — worth $3,333,333.40 in total — in her hands.
"Amazing," said Von Richter, who immediately instructed her daughter to call her father, Karsten, with the news.
"I just didn’t believe it," said Karsten Von Richter. "This gives us more freedom and makes us more comfortable."
So far the couple has celebrated its newfound wealth with a celebratory dinner with more plans to come.
"We will figure things out once it settles down a bit," said Karsten.
The six winning numbers were: 30 31 34 43 45 47.
