‘Wrong’ number makes a Canadian $6 million richer

Forgetting his sister’s date of birth has paid off for a Calgary resident whose repeated use of “wrong” numbers earned him a $6-million Canada Lotto 6/49 prize.

Albert Fleury used the same combination of anniversary and birthday numbers to play the lottery for decades. Interestingly, the number he used for his sister’s birthday was every time same but incorrect.

Fleury said he put his sister’s birth date wrong almost 40 years ago and he kept on using the same incorrect date ever since. “I’m pretty happy I did [the mistake].”

The lucky man initially thought he had won $60,000 on his ticket for the April 22 draw but he was again a few digits off.

“I said $60,000? and she [Loto representative] said, ‘No, you won six million’ — and she whispered it, but everyone in the line heard it,” Fleury said in a July 28 release of the Western Canada Lottery Corp.

The recently retired man had bought the ticket, carrying winning numbers 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 28, from a Centre Street N.E. Circle K store in Calgary.

He said his plans to spend the money include paying off his mortgage and buying a new home.

Fleury said their previous financial circumstance did not allow his family to do much travelling, “but that’s something that we’d look to do in the future”.

He is the sixth Calgarian to win and claim a lottery prize of at least $1 million this year.