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This Week June 27, 1990. Page M3

_ TOP STORY

WINNING

Continued from Page 1
enerally speaking, lot-
tery winners who have
hit the jackpot tend to
be very happy with
their lot in life. Thomas, who
has the task of presenting win-
ners with their cheques, then
interviewing them and
photographing them for B.C.
Lottery Corporation publicity
purposes, says there’s no
predicting how people will react
to their wins.

She said million dollar winners are
“often the most quiet people in the
room, while sometimes $5,000 win-
ners are bouncing off the walls.”

She remembers one woman who
came into the B.C. Lottery office at
Hillside and Blanchard to pick up her
$10,000 cheque but could hardly
speak. She was completely hoarse
from phoning all her relatives in
Ireland to tell them she had won.

By and large, people who win lottery
prizes are fairly subdued by the time
they arrive.

“They've had time to think it over by
the time theyve arrived here,” said
Thomas.

Nothing “wild and wacky” about
what lottery winners planned to do
with the bounty comes to mind for
Thomas but she remembers a some-
what hilarious story of one young man
from Campbell River who won
$10,000.

A deckhand on a tugboat, the prize
winner was the type of person who
“probably drinks most of his payche-
que every week.”

Thomas recalls he was very
animated when he phoned in to con-
firm his win and receive instructions.
He’d never been to Victoria before but
he said a friend had agreed to drive
him down-Island to pick up his cheque
the next day. He told her he'd be at the
office the next morning when it opened
at 8:30.

As it turned out, our friend engaged
in some celebratory drinking on the
way down Island Highway and had to:
crawl into the back of his
driver/friend’s Jeep to sleep it off.

The heros arrived in the “big city”
about 2 a.m. and the driver decided
he’d find an all-night restaurant and
eat while his buddy slept in the
vehicle. Unfortunately, he parked in a
no-parking zone and a very vigilant
tow truck driver soon had the vehicle
hitched on and headed for the towing
compound. Our friend awoke while the
vehicle was being towed and managed
to summons the driver’s attention by
blowing the horn of the Jeep.
Meanwhile, his friend emerged from
the restaurant to find out his vehicle
was missing. Fearing that his friend
had been picked up by the police, he
headed for the station but they hadn't
seen him. Not knowing anyone in Vic-
toria and being nearly broke, the only
thing he could do was wait for his
friend at the B.C. Lottery centre. He
spent an uncomfortable remainder of

the night on the concrete in the under-
ground parking garage.

When the office opened the next
morning, he was reunited with his
friend.

Thomas said that there was a good
possibility that much of the man’s win-
nings would be drunk up but this
young winner was “very sweet’ and

AT THE LOTTERY GAME

television.

“I already had a very good television
but it didn’t have a remote control. I
was sitting there and realized that I'd
been jumping up and down all day to
change the channel. I phoned the store
right then and there and the next day
they brought around the new set with
a remote control,” she said, sounding

PAY YOUR BUCK and jest your luck . .

. there are several tickets To choose

from when playing the lottery game, and each ticket offers a chance at the
sont of wealth most people can only fantasize about.

planned to share his windfall with his
mother and sister.

If there’s one thing that most major
lottery winners have in common, it’s
the desire for privacy. Thomas said
that while most enjoy the immediate
media attention that comes with a big

win, they subsequently become very
guarded about their privacy. When
asked to contact several lottery win-
ners to see if they would consent to an

interview, even with a guarantee of

anonymity, The B.C. Lottery Corpora-
tion could find no takers other than a
James Bay woman who won $67,750.

This particular winner saw her num-
bers come up June 24, 1989. She said
she talked to very few people about her
winnings as she was afraid this would
be construed as “gloating.” In her mid-
eighties, her husband, a former life
insurance salesman, died of a long ill-
ness this past March. She had already
built up a substantial stock portfolio
before the win but she put most of the
newly-acquired cash into blue chip
stocks.

All except a bit of “mad money” that
she splurged to purchase a new

quite surprised at her own impulsive
behavior.

The winner still buys lottery tickets
-- Lotto 6/49 twice a week -- but says
she wouldn’t know what to do with the
cash if she won big.

“If it was a million, I’d give most of it
away. I don’t need it,” she said.”
But one major lottery winner This

Week did manage to interview, says ~

you can never have enough money. He

($9

says he uses his winnings as “a
security blanket.”

Harvey, who agreed to an interview
on the condition of anonymity, won
$1,698,000 in July of 1988. He had
retired from his job as a lumber grader
in a Port Alberni mill at age 65, two
years before the big win.

He said winning the lottery somehow
didn’t surprise him. He heard on the
local radio station that someone in
Port Alberni had won more than $1.5
million on the lottery.

“I remember thinking ‘that could be
me’ and sure enough, it was.”

Harvey says that while he wasn’t
overly excited about the win, he was
anxious to get the money into a bank
account so it would start gathering
interest. He said he remembers that
he “babbled a lot” for the first few
weeks after winning the lottery but
things got back to normal rather
quickly.

He said that when he won the prize,
he had no debts other than a loan to
purchase a seven-passenger van. He
paid off the van right away and still
drives the same vehicle.

Harvey gave some of the money
away. To his older brother, age 75, he
gave $100,000. To his long-term, live-
in companion, he gave $100,000. And
to another friend who had “got in
trouble with credit cards,” he gave
$20,000.

He immediately sold off his
mortgage-free house in Port Alberni
and moved to a house he purchased in
the Western Community. It’s a basic
B.C. box-type house on just under two
acres. There’s nothing ostentatious
about the place, other than a million

dollar view across the Strait of Juan de
Fuca to the Olympic mountains.

Harvey splurged and bought himself
a swimming pool for $52,000, some-
thing he’s always wanted, and he in-

stalled a retaining wall in his sloping
front yard so he can have a small, level
lawn.

Other than the purchase of a few
items of furniture and a holiday in
Hawau, Harvey has spent little. There
is nothing about the house he shares
with his friend that says a millionaire
lives there.

“I haven’t changed at all. I do the
same things J always did,” said Harvey,
“except now I do them on a slightly
grander scale.”

Harvey said he has always been con-
servative with his money and had
never used credit cards. He sees no
reason to change old habits.

He likes to cook and entertain
friends, has three cats, enjoys listen-
ing to classical music and opera and he
now takes an active interest in watch-
ing his money grow. Three quarters of
his money is invested in government-
backed securities and the remainder is
in blue-chip stocks. He meets with his
Victoria financial consultant, usually
once a month, over lunch to discuss his
investments. He’s thinking about
going somewhere sunny for the winter
but there are no lavish plans.

If all goes well with his investments,
he'll be able to “leave behind the same
amount of money that I won.”

He has specified that in the event of
his death, one quarter of his estate will
go to his brother and his family and the
remaining 75 per cent will go to his
live-in companion.

Harvey still shops carefully for
everything he buys.

“Seniors day at K-Mart is still a big
deal for me. After all, I worked hard for
my money all my life.” :

And does he still buy lottery tickets?

“Of course! J thoroughly expect to win
again so I keep buying more. After all,
you can never have too much money.”