For the second time in about two months Yukoners walked away with a big lottery win.
Cal and Rose Murdoch won $1 million in the Lotto 6/49 draw on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
The Whitehorse couple were handed their giant novelty cheque on Friday.
If it weren’t for a trip to Arizona and Nevada, they may not have won at all.
Cal is a long-time lottery player, but typically only for the weekend draws, not Wednesday, he said.
Since they were going away on vacation he bought advance tickets from his business, Integra Tire, for Jan. 21 to Feb 7.
Advance play tickets include all 6/49 draws, Wednesday and Saturday.
“I packed it around for two weeks. We went to Vegas and Phoenix, it just went all over the country with us, not knowing we’d won,” Rose said.
The couple came back from their vacation in time for the winning draw.
Cal, who is a partner in Integra Tire, heard at work that someone had won the guaranteed million.
“I said, huh, I have a ticket for that.”
Cal and Rose agreed to meet at home over lunch to check things out. She brought the tickets and he brought the winning numbers.
“We get home and she said, ‘We didn’t win,’ so I grab the ticket and I look at it and I said, ‘Yes we did.’ She said, ‘no we didn’t.’ ‘Yes we did,’ he said.
“Eventually she believed me.”
The Murdochs have practical plans for their windfall – pay off debt, give some to their children and anonymously donate to charity.
The rest is going into a retirement savings plan, Cal said.
“Because, being a small business owner, we don’t have those.”
Rose has one specific plan for the home.
“We are putting in new countertops because I hated my old ones.”
The Murdoch’s three adult children were surprised to hear their parents had won.
“The nice part I liked about that is that they didn’t ask if they were getting anything. They were just like, ‘Woah, good for you, what are you going to do with it?’” Cal said.
“We said well we’re going to give some to you and they were like, ‘Really?’’
The guaranteed $1 million prize draw was added to Lotto 6/49 in September 2013.
The Murdochs are the latest Yukon millionaires.
Dave Harper of Marsh Lake won the jackpot Dec. 17 using a Lotto 6/49 quick pick ticket. Harper’s $3.5 million is the second largest jackpot ever won in the territory.
Contact Ashley Joannou at ashleyj@yukon-news.com