Lotto 6/49 $1M winner is Nova Scotia truck driver
Bruce Osmond Osmond quit his job and sold his rig within three hours of finding out he was a winner
Retirement dreams have become a reality for Nova Scotia truck driver Bruce Osmond after winning Atlantic Lottery's $1 million prize on Saturday.
"It was Sunday morning around 10:30, I was at my friends place and she said, 'someone in Lower Sackville won a million dollars, where did you buy your ticket?' So I said Lower Sackville," said Osmond over the phone.
"She started reading off the numbers and she was shaking before she had all the numbers because she could see, looking across the table that I had all the right combination of numbers," he said.
Osmond says he checked the numbers on his ticket more than a dozen times in the first minutes.
"The feeling that went over me — I never experienced a feeling like that before in my life. It was awesome."
Osmond quit his job and sold his rig within three hours of finding out he was a winner.
'It was awesome'
"I called my boss and said I wouldn't be in for Monday morning. He said, 'Are you OK? Are you sick or anything?' And I said 'No, no, no, I just won a million dollars.' He said, 'are you serious?' and was just ecstatic. He was really, really happy for me."
Osmond is originally from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, but currently lives in Lucasville on the outskirts of Halifax.
He bought his winning Lotto 6/49 ticket at a Lower Sackville Esso station.
Osmond recalls telling the cashier Sunday, "'I heard someone won a million dollars here,' and she said, 'I don't know, they won't really tell us what store it was at,' so I said, 'here, maybe this ticket will tell you,' and she checked it and she was all smiles."
Osmond won the $1 million guaranteed prize, which is drawn every Wednesday and Saturday. After giving up trucking, Osmond says he is looking forward to a life on easy street.
He said the best part of his Sunday — on top of winning a million dollars — was turning off his alarm clock that was set to go early the next morning for work.
He is planning a trip to Newfoundland in the near future to visit family.
He also plans to spend more time with his grandchildren.