Ottawa, Aug 12: A group of Canadian manufacturing employees won a $ 7 million lottery jackpot, just days after their company announced massive layoffs and the closing of their plant.
The 18 workers at Smart Technologies in Ottawa announced on Thursday that they had won the Lotto. Each worker in the pool will get nearly 400-thousand US dollars each.
"It's the perfect amount to win. Any more and you are different," Tony Mather, one of the winners, told CTV on Thursday. "This makes you comfortable and you wish everyone could experience this kind of feeling."
Mather celebrating on Thursday by drinking a bottle of scotch.
Mather's friend, Colin Willard, recalled the moment he learned the news from Mather.
"So I'm watching him backing up, and I hear him hit the back of the curb. So I told him, 'do it again, do it again!' You know, 'smash it!' And I walk up to his window and I said, 'Tony,' I says 'smash you car because we just won the lottery' and he goes, 'Colin I have had a bad day. Don't screw with me.'"
Ten of the 18 winners had just been laid off by the the company.
Their winnings work out to about 15 years' worth of gross pay. AP
