iN VIDEO: Merritt couple among 2019’s big lottery winners in B.C.

It was a big year for B.C. lottery players with a record-breaking $785 million in winnings this year.

The B.C. Lottery Corporation said in a media release Merritt’s Rowena Inyallie and George Munro are amongst the province’s biggest winners in 2019, winning a $25.9 million Lotto Max prize in February this year.

This year the largest single lottery prize ever awarded in B.C. went to Richmond’s Joseph Katalinic who won $60 million in the July 26 Lotto Max draw.

The lottery corporation also paid out four consecutive $1 million dollar 6/49 prizes between Nov. 20 and Nov. 30, only the second time that has happened.

Some of the other big winners this year included:

• Surrey’s Michelle De Roma – $39.5M Lotto Max winner
• Telkwa’s Kenneth and Susan Salter – $20M Lotto Max winners
• Tumbler Ridge’s Vivienne Mills – $10.1M Lotto 6/49 winner
• Port Alberni’s Madelaine and Harold Thomas – $5M Lotto 6/49 winners

"Playing the lottery is about the chance to have life-changing dreams come true and this year’s record-breaking amount of winnings has delivered bigger dreams than ever before for our players,” BCLC vice-president of lottery gaming Kevin Gas said in the release.

More than $1 billion generated by BCLC gambling activities, which included lottery, went back into health care, education and community groups across B.C. in 2019, according to the media release.

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