ATLANTIC WINS

New Brunswick couple feeling festive after $200,000 Countdown win

Diane Tweedie of Kouchibouguac, N.B. was too excited to wait for the holiday season before she scratched her Countdown Scratch’N Win ticket.

Countdown features 25 gift-shaped windows to break open and scratch, one for each day beginning Dec. 1 – but Diane couldn’t resist the urge to open them all at once.

Diane is not a frequent lottery player but said the new holiday-themed ticket “looked like it was fun to play,” so she jokingly asked the retail clerk to “pick out a good one.”

As Diane scratched her ticket to first reveal one bell symbol and then a second, she said “Oh no, it couldn’t be.” Eager to find another, she continued to scratch her ticket until the third and final bell appeared on the very last row.

Diane was thrilled to share the news with her husband Murray that they had won the $200,000 top prize on Countdown, a ticket sold only in Atlantic Canada.

“It is a lot less pressure for us now,” she said. Murray added that the win will give them “a little breathing room” to continue operating the blueberry farm business they run together.

The couple came to Atlantic Lottery’s head office in Moncton, N.B. to claim their prize.

“They were a fun, genuine couple who were just so humble and kind,” said Christian Richard of Atlantic Lottery’s Winners team. “They were so easy to talk to, I just felt like I had known them for years.”

After claiming their $200,000 prize, the couple went to a large, annual family gathering where they surprised their loved ones with the good news ahead of the holiday season.

And as for the clerk who sold the winning ticket? Diane and Murray were sure to make a trip back to the store to thank her for picking “a good one.”

Countdown is a $20 Scratch’N Win ticket that offers two ways to win: either by revealing three identical prize amounts under the same window, or three identical symbols on the entire ticket. Players also receive a free $3 promo code that can be used to play on alc.ca.