Christmas came early for a Port Coquitlam man this week after he won $1,000 per week for 25 years in the Set for Life draw.
Kevin Bradley bought and verified the ticket at a Save-On-Foods in Port Coquitlam.
But because he works graveyard shifts for the city of Vancouver maintaining pools and ice rinks, Bradley said he waited four days to tell his wife over dinner at IHOP.
“She works dayshifts as a teacher,” he said. “I thought, OK, I’ll wait. We went out for supper, I said, ‘I won.’ She said, ‘You’re kidding!’”
A spokesperson for BCLC said it’s rare that a winner opts for the weekly prize — most choose to take the lump sum of $675,000.
Bradley said he spoke to his financial advisor and, having already considered retirement in the next six months, decided it would make more sense to take the quarter-century of weekly payments.
“We’re just taking it in stride. We’re not high, fancy spenders. It will help a lot,” said Bradley, adding he plans to let the money build up while he works out what to do with it.
Still, there are a few things on his list Bradley is looking forward to ticking off sooner than later: a trip to Japan to see some old friends and another to Ireland to visit the homeland from which his ancestors immigrated five or six generations ago.
Before that, said Bradley, he’ll keep buying his twice-weekly tickets, and looks forward to spending Christmas with his two daughters — one of whom is flying in from Toronto over the next few days.
“She doesn’t even know yet,” he said.
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