A spur of the moment decision to purchase a lottery ticket for a game she rarely plays changed the course of Eileen Bevis’s life, after the Langley resident won a cool $4.2 million from the Jan. 23 Lotto 6/49 draw.

“I went into the store for a couple of items and as I was leaving, I walked past the [lottery] counter. It was just spur of the moment,” Bevis recalled.

She purchased the winning ticket at the Save-On-Foods on Fraser Highway in Aldergrove.

Bevis typically plays Lotto Max, but decided to give Lotto 6/49 a try that day, purchasing a $10 Lotto pack.

Bevis’s ticket and one other purchased in Quebec both matched all six numbers from the late-January draw to win $4.2 million each.

The odds of winning a Lotto 6/49 jackpot are 1 in 13,983,816.

Bevis was at home in her living room enjoying a cup of coffee when she opened up the BCLC Lotto! app on her iPad to check her ticket.

READ MORE: Lottery ticket worth $4.2 million purchased in Aldergrove

“And there I was…stunned,” she recalled of her winning moment. “I knew when I looked at it, all six numbers were correct.”

Bevis said she will invest most of her prize, and also plans to donate some of it to cancer research and organizations dedicated to animal welfare.

On how she’s feeling about being B.C.’s latest millionaire?

“Disbelief…and extremely happy,” she noted.

Bevis is a volunteer driver for the Langley Senior Society driving seniors who can no longer do so themselves.

In 2020, B.C. lottery players redeemed more than $105 million in winnings from Lotto 6/49 and BCLC paid out more than $691 million in lottery prizes.

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