$80-million lottery winner vows to help family, community

A Surrey man has claimed the largest lottery jackpot won by an individual in Canadian history.

The winner of the largest lottery jackpot in B.C. history was revealed on Thursday, and he says he wants to use the windfall to help others.

Surrey resident Justin Simporios, 35, matched all seven numbers on the May 9 Lotto Max draw, netting the record prize of $80 million. The maximum jackpot possible has been won twice before, but had to be split between two players.

Simporios bought the ticket the same day as the draw while buying burger ingredients at the Walmart in Central City mall. The family went to bed early as his daughter was sick, he said, recounting the fateful day at a news conference on Thursday.

When he found out the $80-million ticket was purchased in Surrey, he joked to his wife that “we’re millionaires.”

“She was mad. She was like, ‘Can you stop that joke right now because your daughter is sleeping?’” Simporios recalled.

He checked the numbers on the ticket with a flashlight, and came to the realization they were, in fact, millionaires.

“I shouted, I cried, I threw on the lights, my wife was mad again,” Simporios said. “I was like, ‘Babe, we don’t have to work anymore, this is life-changing.’”

Now set for life, Simporios says he sent a resignation letter to the logistics company he works for a few hours before the news conference.

The now-multi-millionaire said he’s most excited to share the winnings with his family.

“It’s securing my family’s future—I want to retire my mom, my wife’s family, we want to set them up,” he said.

He also vowed to help his community, saying he knows the struggles local families go through, and has a few charities in mind.

“This is so much money for us; I really want to give back to the community as much as I can.”

As for himself, Simporios, an LA Lakers fan, said he wants to see LeBron James play in-person before the star retires, visit family in the Philippines, and buy a dream home in the Lower Mainland.

The winner got emotional after being handed the symbolic cheque for $80 million.

“I’m an immigrant. I came from a poor country. Like, this money’s a lot, right? I’ve been struggling. I’m a father. I work full time,” he said, adding it’s hard to balance supporting a family financially while trying to spend time with them.

“With this amount of money, I’ll be able to spend more time with my daughter, with my wife, with my family. Like, it’s awesome,” he said. “I’m just feeling blessed right now.”

The odds of winning a Lotto Max jackpot are one in 33,294,800.