Team atmosphere will hit an all-time high as five members of the Marlin Travel Oak Bay team boards the ferry tomorrow morning on day trip to claim their $1 million lottery win.
Beverly Todd, Bill Smith, Shelagh de Sousa, Bryan Evans and Shan Brindle learned July 3 of their win in the June 26 lottery with a quick trip from their office on Oak Bay Avenue to the nearby Pharmasave, where the machine sounded a little different than usual.
“When you win a free play it makes a little noise … the thing was vibrating,” said de Sousa, tasked with checking the ticket that Friday.
The job usually falls on Todd, who serves as team leader in the office lottery pool, and that’s who de Sousa first called from just up the street.
Todd and Evans were the only others in the office that day, and once they arrived Todd and de Sousa did a squealing, spinning, hopping happy dance that alerted other patrons to the
$1 million win and word spread from there, despite the fact none of the co-workers really told many people.
“We won on our numbers and that’s what makes it so sweet,” Todd said.
For the past two years they’ve played the same numbers each week – featuring favourite numbers such as Ken Dryden fan de Sousa’s 29 in honour of his jersey number – with the highest prize before now $80.
None has big plans for the new wiggle room in the household budget. “It’s enough to put a smile on your face,” Evans said.
It’s also brought a team, already a comprehensive unit, even closer together. They plan to head for the Mainland July 9 to claim the prize.
