Ashley Orr regularly plays the lottery, but he got a pleasant surprise during an early morning visit at the Debec General Store.
The Debec, N.B., man sat down with a cup of coffee and his Set for Life Scratch’N Win ticket when he learned he hit the jackpot.
“I knew exactly what it was when I scratched it, but I had to wait to show to someone else to verify it because I couldn’t believe it,” said Orr.
“I was sitting there shaking. It’s still pretty hard to process.”
The top prize for Atlantic Lottery’s Set for Life Scratch’N Win ticket is one of two options — $1,000 a week for 25 years or a lump sum payment of $675,000.
Orr, who has spent the last 20 years as a school custodian, opted for the lump sum. The win means he can start thinking about early retirement.
Orr said he doesn’t have any big plans for the winnings — other than a new snow plow and a trip to British Columbia with his partner Jocelyn Graham to visit her son and take in local wildlife.
“I’d like to go see the orcas. I always wanted to go see them and I’ve always been interested in nature,” he said.
“There’s nothing else really. I was happy before and this just puts the icing on the cake.”