$40 Million Dollar Lotto Winner Thought He Had Won $40k

Posted on: April 8, 2025, 05:04h. 

Last updated on: April 8, 2025, 05:04h.

Mark Keast Read More

Expertise: Canadian Gaming, iGaming, Las Vegas, Sports Betting, NFL, Boxing, UFC.

A 79-year-old retired railway employee thought he had won $40,000 in a LOTTO MAX draw Feb. 21, only to find out the ticket was for $40 million.

$40 Million Win

Bernard White of Oshawa said he’s been buying lottery tickets every week for years – one for himself and one for his daughter.

“Before I go to bed, I always tell her to pick one. This time, she picked the wrong one,” White said, with a smirk.

White said in his home, his daughter always wakes up very early to work. On the day after the LOTTO MAX draw, with the sun nowhere near up, his daughter wrapped on his bedroom door, telling him he had won $40,000 with his lottery ticket.

“That’s great,” he told her. “Now we can pay off both our cars.”

Prankster

White said he put his head back down on the pillow but was too excited to fall back to sleep.

“Five or ten minutes later, there was another knock on the door and my daughter said, ‘Um…Dad, I think you won $40 million!’ Now I really wanted to jump out of bed, but I couldn’t because I sleep in the nude,” he said. “I would’ve hit the ceiling if I’d had underwear on!”

Incredibly, despite all the excitement, his daughter still went to work, although for obvious reasons she came home early. 

“When my daughter came home, we both went to the store where I’d bought the ticket,” he said. “We checked it at the lottery terminal, and it lit up like a Christmas tree.”

$3,000 Speakers

Worked up, White said he hopped in his car, looking to take a long drive. He wanted to go share the news with a long-time partner.

I told her I’d won $40 thousand –I couldn’t get that thought out of my mind,” he said. “She didn’t believe me because I pull pranks on her all the time. I then told her I’d won $40 million and even showed her the ticket, but it didn’t convince her right away. In fact, I was having a difficult time even saying, ‘I won $40 million.’ It felt so surreal.”

White said with his winnings he’s going to buy a new fishing rod and a set of $3,000 speakers for his music. That leaves around $39,996,800. He has a big family, with many siblings, so he’ll be helping those people out. He’ll take a cruise around Newfoundland, where he was born. And he wants to support some health organizations that are near to his heart. 

But he will also be helping out his daughter.

“My daughter means a lot to me because, when my late wife and I had her, she was the only child we could have,” he said. “She’s going to be well taken care of.”