A birthday to remember: Regina’s newest millionaire revealed

There are one million reasons why Regina’s Ethel Clarkson’s 70th birthday was unlike any other.

Clarkson became the province’s newest millionaire after winning one of the 53 LOTTO MAX MAXMILLIONS draws on Oct. 19.

She said her granddaughter had called her to ask her what she wanted as a present.

“I don’t like them to buy me stuff so I said ‘Just a kiss would be fine,’ and she said ‘Oh grandma, that’s a given,’ so I said ‘Oh just buy me a lottery ticket then,’” Clarkson said.

That ticket ended up being a million dollar prize winner.

“Nobody’s going to top that for a birthday gift,” she said.

She said she couldn’t believe she had won when she checked her numbers —4, 7, 13, 19, 42, 45 and 46 — and realized they had all matched.

“So I ran down the stairs and said to my son ‘I think I won the lottery’ so he checked and looked at the numbers,” Clarkson said.

She said the first time they scanned the ticket, it said it wasn’t available. On the second try, the message came across saying it was a million dollar winner.

“Started jumping around screaming and then my daughter-in-law came running because she could hear us upstairs so she came running up from downstairs and she started jumping around screaming and crying,” Clarkson said.

She said she occasionally does go out and buy lottery tickets, noting she’s already picked up another one for the next draw.

She said she plans on sharing the money with her family, investing some of it and buying a new vehicle.

The $6 winning ticket was purchased at the Sherwood Co-op Grassland, located at 4705 Gordon Road.

She is the ninth million-dollar winner in Regina since 2010.