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Vancouver Island co-workers share $500,000 lottery win

Comox Valley co-workers Deborah Banks and Dale Miller are sharing feelings of complete disbelief along with $500,000 after the two picked up a ticket for the Aug. 20 Lotto Max draw and matched all four numbers to win the top Extra prize.
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Deborah Banks and Dale Miller won $500,000 in the Aug. 20, 2021 Lotto Max draw. Photo supplied.

Comox Valley co-workers Deborah Banks and Dale Miller are sharing feelings of complete disbelief along with $500,000 after the two picked up a ticket for the Aug. 20 Lotto Max draw and matched all four numbers to win the top Extra prize.

While the two live in different cities - Banks, from Cumberland, and Miller, from Comox - they work together in Fanny Bay and purchased the ticket at the Buckley Bay Beachcomber.

Banks woke up her friend to share the good news, after scanning the ticket from home on the BCLC Lotto! app.

“My first thoughts were, ‘it’s a joke, it’s too early in the morning for this,’” Miller said.

“My first thoughts were, ‘this can’t be true,’” Banks added.

Banks said sometimes the two select numbers that are meaningful to them when they play together, but this ticket was a Quick Pick.

The friends celebrated by treating their families to dinner.

hey share similar plans for their unexpected prize: paying off their mortgages and saving for retirement.

“Awesome! Totally awesome – still doesn’t feel real,” Miller said.

“It’s a dream come true,” Banks added.

ALSO: Former B.C. lottery director says he’s ‘whistleblower’ on money laundering at casinos