Kamloops man who won $35M Lotto Max jackpot quit playing the lottery 3 weeks earlier

For a guy who just won $35 million, Gary Hill seems pretty even-keeled.

The Kamloops resident said he’s still soaking it all in after winning the life-changing sum in the June 22 Lotto Max draw.

However, his calm demeanour doesn’t quite sum up how he’s currently feeling on the inside.

“I’m not here right now,” he explained. “My body is, but I’m not. My soul is around Venus or Jupiter, I’m heading into space.”

Hill split the $70-million jackpot with someone from Ontario and today, he claimed that prize from the BCLC office in Kamloops.

The winning ticket was purchased shortly before the draw on June 22 at McGoo’s Smokes N Stuff at Northills Shopping Centre.

But Hill said the life-changing winning ticket, which featured the same numbers he’s been playing for the last two years (7, 11, 22, 28, 33, 44, 49), was nearly not purchased.

The 61-year-old told reporters that he actually quit playing the lottery three weeks before the June 22 draw.

A week later, his intuition told him to start playing those same numbers again, so he did, but on June 21, the night before the draw he won, he still didn’t have a ticket.

Hill explained that he was sitting on his mom’s deck when a dragonfly showed up and sat on a nearby branch, staring at him.

The retired trucker thought it was a cool moment because he hadn’t seen a dragonfly in a long time, but low and behold, the next day he saw another one while on a walk.

Thinking it could be a sign, Hill googled if seeing a dragonfly two days in a row means anything.

When Google told him that it’s good luck, he went to the mall to buy his ticket.

Following the draw, he checked the numbers and, since he’s memorized them, knew that he was the winner.

He fell onto his bed and cried for 15 minutes before going to find his mom in the garden and tell her.

She instantly thought something was wrong, but Hill sat her down and told her the good news.

When she looked at the ticket, she pointed out that Hill was missing the number 10 and wasn’t the grand prize winner, which brought him crashing down to earth.

After some tense moments, thinking that his prize was in the thousands rather than millions, Hill double-checked the numbers and confirmed his initial belief - he was a multi-millionaire.

Today, Hill claimed his prize and admitted that life mostly feels the same for him, as it will take a few weeks for the life-changing win to really sink in.

He’s happy to stay put at the moment, given the COVID-19 pandemic is still active, but is eyeing some travel in the future.

Hill also mentioned the possibility of buying a new house, but added that he often feels trapped at home and would rather spend his time out and about, so a new home isn’t a top priority.

However, he confirmed that he has no plans of leaving his hometown of Kamloops.