Vancouver man says he nearly forgot to check winning $40M lotto ticket

A Vancouver man says a gut feeling and sparkling water were key elements in his becoming a multimillionaire.

In late May, Phuc Duc (Daniel) Chau bought a Lotto Max ticket that won him the $40-million jackpot.

Chau says he was running in Burnaby’s Central Park when he stopped in at a 7-Eleven store to buy a can of pop.

He’s not sure what, but he says “something really pushed” him to buy two tickets then as he was checking out.

Chau says the tickets stayed in his bag, unchecked for several days before he remembered them while at work.

“So the first ticket didn’t win — but the second ticket, when I scanned it and I went to see the number, I literally dropped my phone. I’m like, ‘Ooh, how many zero numbers was that?’ Like, I’ve never seen that many zeroes in my life,” said Chau at a media event Thursday.

Chau says the money will be “life-changing,” and he and his partner are “walking on cloud nine.”

“I want to support my parents. I want to support my family. I have some bucket list places I wanted to travel. I’m saving up money for it, but now I can make it come true. And I want to contribute back to the community, because I know this might be a life-changing experience to me, and I want to use a part of it to change other people’s life as well.”

First, he says he has to tell his parents the news and find himself a financial planner.