The winner of what the B.C. Lottery Corp. calls the largest jackpot ever awarded to a single person in Canada says the $80 million prize is “life-changing.”
Justin Simporios, from Surrey, B.C., fought back tears of joy during a Thursday news conference. He revealed that he had already quit his job at a logistics company and was considering purchasing his “dream home” in Metro Vancouver as his first big purchase.
“I just sent in my resignation through email, just an hour or two before this news conference,” Simporios shared. “I’m working with a great operations team, and my boss is amazing.”
said he just wanted to make sure his boss and co-workers knew he wanted to “step away.”
“Just giving you guys a heads-up, I’m not coming back,” he said, adding they were happy for him.
The B.C. Lottery Corp. said it’s the largest jackpot ever won in the province, as well as the largest individual win in Canada.
Simporios, who is married with a daughter, discovered he had won the May 9 Lotto Max draw around 10:30 p.m. that evening, after hearing that the winning ticket had been sold in Surrey.
He playfully teased his wife, saying their family had become millionaires before double-checking his ticket.
“She was mad,” Simporios recalled. “She said, ‘Can you stop that joke right now? Our daughter is sleeping.'”
Simporios then described sitting on his bed with a flashlight, carefully checking the winning numbers to avoid waking his daughter, only to realize he had won.
“I shouted. I cried. I turned off the lights. And my wife was mad again,” he laughed while recalling the moment.
Simporios shared that his main focus is giving back to the community, helping pay off his sister’s medical school debt, and enabling his mother to retire early.
“I’ve been struggling,” he admitted. “I’m a father. I work full-time. I have a daughter. I want to go home and spend time with them, but as a father, you want to find that balance. Do I work, or do I spend time with my daughter and not have food?”
“With this amount of money, I’ll be able to spend more time with my daughter, my wife, my family. It’s awesome, man. Just thank you. I’m feeling so blessed right now.”
When asked about the first thing he plans to buy with the money, Simporios didn’t hesitate.
“We’re going to sit down with our financial adviser right away,” he said. “But once that meeting is done, it’s definitely going to be our dream home.”