An alleged illegal operation of China Lottery Online Co. Ltd., a state-owned lottery enterprise, was uncovered by whistleblower Wang Wenzhi. (Photo : Reuters)
When it comes to beating the odds in life, Canadian Peter McCathie is the man to beat. He just won the C$1 million Lotto 6/49 prize from Atlantic Lottery.
When Peter was a teen, he was struck by lightning. The two incidents, plus another lightning hit on his daughter, have a combined odds of 1 in 2.6 trillion chance, according to ABC News. That makes McCathie really a champion when it comes to that aspect of his life.
He will actually get only C$500,000 of the C$1 million prize since he shares the winning ticket with co-worker Diana Miller. But he will get C$10,000 additional prize because he is the owner of the Amherst Shore Country Store in Nova Scotia where they purchased the winning C$3 ticket.
Being hit by lightning has a 1 in a million chance, which young Peter defied when he was 14 while wading in shallow waters. He recalls, "I was trying to lock the boat up, it was a very sunny day, there was one big, white cloud in the sky and the lightning bolt came through the trees and hit me," quotes CTV.
From lightning bolts, McCarthie gets a windfall which he would use to pay debts and go on a second honeymoon, possibly in Ecuador, with his wife to whom he has been married for almost three decades. The honeymoon would allow the now-rich man to pursue his passion of cooking and fishing, reports Cumberlandnews.
In turn, Miller, a baker, jokes she probably would not ask McCarthie for a raise this year. The two have been jointly buying lottery tickets for only one year and he expected to be hit first by another lightning than win the lottery.
It did not, but his family must be lightning magnets because his daughter was also hit by a lightning a few years ago while working as a tour guide in Manitoba, which boosted the odds to 1 in 2.6 trillion, according to Sophie Leger, mathematics professor at the University of Moncton. Leger points out, "It's almost not possible, but it did happen ... It shows that anything can happen in life."
It is not just McCarthie who is an odds-beater, but also Cumberland County since he is the second resident to win the Lotto 6/49 draw. On June 17, Helen Fortune of Oxford Junction became the first millionaire from the same place. Her win, though, is not surprising because her surname - Fortune - says it all.
