A Québec City couple, Mohamed Karim Mamlouk and Insaf Bach Werdiane, have won the $50,000,000 Gold Ball jackpot in the Aug. 28, Lotto 6/49 draw. The day Mamlouk, a Revenu Québec employee, discovered he was a multimillionaire, he was handed new responsibilities at work and said he had “an excellent day.” Despite his life-changing win, Mamlouk has no intention of retiring anytime soon.
“I already told my boss I don’t want to change anything in my life. I’m happy,” said Mamlouk to Loto-Québec.
At the time of their press conference to collect their $50 million jackpot, Mamlouk’s boss remained the only person that was aware of their news.
“The kids are not yet up to speed,” said the Revenu Québec employee.
The couple says that their kids have started asking questions. However, after keeping the news from them over the weekend, “it won’t stay a secret for long.”
With such a large sum, the couple plans to take their time deciding how they want to spend it. For now, the focus is on raising their teenagers and following their academic pursuits.
“We don’t have crazy dreams to spend. We’re fairly calm in our spending,” said Mamlouk. “And we’re reasonable.
“At the start, it was inevitable, we just started dreaming. But then we started to get a bit scared, and we said ‘Stop.’ We have to rethink everything and our decisions, we’re not going to decide anything too quickly.
“We can just hope that the money won’t change us.”
What they do know is that they will upgrade their home, and continue to live and raise their teenagers in Québec City, their favourite place.
“I love Québec City. I want to live in Québec City, I want to buy in Québec City, I want to stay in Québec City,” said Werdiane. “Everything in Québec City.”
On Aug. 29, the day after the draw, Mamlouk checked the ticket using the Lotteries app just before leaving for work. He was stunned to see $50 million flash on his phone. He immediately called his spouse, who hung-up the phone after hearing the news.
“I told her we won,” said Mamlouk. “She had clients in front of her, and said ‘Stop, stop, stop joking.’ She almost started yelling at me, because she was working in front of a lot of people.”
The couple regularly buys lottery tickets together; Mamlouk handles Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49, while Werdiane buys Grande Vie tickets.
The winning numbers were 76249451-01. The ticket was purchased in a Dépanneur Sprint / Station Petro-Canada at 1114 Boulevard de la Chaudière, Que. The retailer will receive a 1 per cent commission of $500,000.
Lotto 6/49 offers players the chance to win two multi-million-dollar jackpots on every $3 play. The Classic Draw offers a $5-million jackpot every Wednesday and Saturday. The Gold Ball draw, however, is a new format introduced in September 2022, and guarantees a winner every time.
It starts at $10 million, and includes 30 balls in the draw: 29 white and 1 gold. Each white ball is worth $1 million, whereas the gold ball represents the lucky jackpot prize. This Gold Ball jackpot continues to grow by $2 million each time a white ball is drawn, until it reaches $68 million with no more white balls remaining — which then guarantees a Gold Ball winner. Since it launched in 2022, this is the second time this jackpot has been won in Québec.
“The lottery has made 65 new millionaires in Québec since the beginning of the year,” said Isabelle Jean, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Lottery Games at Loto-Québec.
“And chance keeps smiling on Lotto 6/49 players — in addition to the $50,000,000 jackpot we’re awarding today, the Classic Jackpot has been won three times since June.”
If you’re looking to take a break from gambling, self-exclusion programs can be effective tools. See here for resources that are available across Canada.
