Indirectly, Donna Wilshusen of Airdrie has her daughter to thank for her win in the Calgary Stampede Lotteries Split 'Em 50 Add On Draw.  

Wilshusen says the reason she was at the Stampede was to attend a concert with tickets her daughter had given her.  

"My daughter had bought us, for our birthdays, tickets to Johnny Reid who was at the Saddledome. So we went in a little earlier that day and thought okay, let's wander around a little, we'll look at the house (Stampede Dream Home) and do a few things like that before we go into the show and that's where I bought the 50/50 tickets."

That "wandering around time" proved to be the best time Wilshusen has ever wasted. Her ticket was drawn from the thousands of entries for half of $1,650,865, or a take home prize for her of $825.423.50.

Wilshusen says she was shocked by her good fortune.

"I thought, I wonder if this is for real. You think, oh my goodness, this is incredible to think about it.  It took me a few days to actually have it sink in that, yes, I had won.  Actually my friend had given me a quick call. She saw it on TV and she said, 'I think they're trying to say your name but they haven't said it right,' and she said, 'I think you just won a bunch of money from the Stampede, I'm hanging up now in case they're calling you,' and then sure enough they did call me in a minute of so."

When we caught up with Wilshusen she was at work so quitting her job can't be part of her plan of what to do with the money.  

"At this point we haven't made any specific decisions. We'll probably invest some, we might take a little holiday at some point and of course I've got family that I could help."

Wilshusen says her thought in buying the tickets was simply to help out a good organization that helps out others.  

"This one was the Rotary Club of Calgary and they do some amazing work. It really goes back into some great community projects and the Rotary Club is known for the community work that they do. Most of the time you think you're just donating to a good cause."

Now that she's won, Wilshusen jokes that she may just have to try to build on her luck by purchasing a Lotto 6-49 or Lotto Max ticket.  

"Mostly it's my husband that buys them, but maybe I should start buying them more often."

 

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