This 18-year-old is $48M richer after buying her 1st lottery ticket

A first-time lottery player from northern Ontario has won an eye-popping jackpot with an eight-digit total.

OLG officials revealed Friday that 18-year-old Juliette Lamour of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., won a $48-million Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball jackpot draw that took place last month.

According to the OLG, no other lottery players have won as much money as Lamour has, at the same age.

Lamour, a biology student at Algoma University, bought her winning ticket at a convenience store after her grandfather gave her the idea.

“He said to me: ‘You just turned 18, go buy a lotto ticket, test your luck,'” Lamour said Friday, when discussing her win at a media event announcing the news. “So, I did.”

Lamour found out about her win the day after the Jan. 7 draw. She was at work and her colleagues were talking about reports that the jackpot-winning prize had come from a ticket bought in Sault Ste. Marie.

It turned out to be hers.

For now, Lamour said the plan is to invest the money and maybe use a bit to take a trip this summer, after the school year ends.

At this point, however, the first-year student intends to follow her long-term plan, which is to finish her program and then go to medical school.