2025-01-02

Dartmouth, N.S. – The holiday season brought an unforgettable gift to Heather and Peter Bryan of Cole Harbour, N.S., who won $2.5 million on the Lotto 6/49 Classic Jackpot draw. The couple matched all six numbers in the December 21, 2024 draw to claim the life-changing prize.

Heather and their daughter were wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies when they learned of the win from Peter, who was in disbelief.

“I’d always imagined if I won, I’d do something clever to announce it, but I couldn’t,” Peter said. “I was speechless.”

Heather shared her perspective on the unforgettable moment. “We were watching the movie, and he came and stood in front of us. I looked at his face. His face was ashen. His eyes were glassy, and I said, what’s wrong? And he said, we won the lottery! I said: What? How much?

“He said: all of it.”

Peter recounted the moment he realized they had won. “I had seen that someone in Dartmouth won the money, so I thought I better go check my ticket. My coat was downstairs where I knew my ticket was, so I went down to grab it. As I was going down, I saw the first few numbers on my phone, and then when I grabbed the ticket and looked, I saw those numbers on the first line.

“I stopped and said, ‘I can’t.’ So, I opened the Atlantic Lottery app on my phone and used the mobile scanner to scan the ticket.”

The Bryans said the win felt especially thrilling as it unfolded during the Christmas holidays while they were enjoying festive traditions. To keep the ticket safe in the days leading up to claiming their prize, they stored it in a cookie tin – a fitting nod to the season.

Heather added, “We just freaked out when he told us and then it was just chaos and excitement at that point. My daughter and I said, ‘We should be jumping around,’ so then we jumped around.”

“I basically sat down for an hour,” Peter said with a laugh.

The couple plans to use their winnings to support their family, travel, and give back to their community.

"You know, one of the things that comes with this win is the unburdening of a particular worry … everybody's got something to worry about, but money is not one thing we have to worry about now," Peter said.

Heather and Peter split the $5-million Lotto 6/49 Classic Jackpot with another winning ticket purchased from Western Canada Lottery Corporation.

The winning ticket was purchased at Sobey’s in Cole Harbour.

Media Contact:

Lindsay Meekins
Atlantic Lottery Public Relations Strategist
506-431-6466
lindsay.meekins@alc.ca

Backgrounder: About Lotto 6/49

Lotto 6/49 holds draws every Wednesday and Saturday with two multi-million jackpots available to be won.

Each $3 ticket includes one Classic Draw selection of six numbers. Players can choose or use Insta Pik to have the numbers selected for them, and a 10-digit computer generated Gold Ball Draw number.

The Classic Jackpot is always set at $5 million.

The Gold Ball Jackpot starts at $10 million and can grow past $60 million.

The Gold Ball draw guarantees a winning ticket on every draw. The winner of the Gold Ball draw will take home either $1 million, or the growing Gold Ball jackpot.

For $1 each, players can add TAG and Atlantic 49. These add-on games give you additional chances to win and are only available in Atlantic Canada.