April 2, 2004
WILD AND CRAZY CANADIANS:
Big lottery winner waits nearly a year to claim his prize (Mary Nerssessian, Globe and Mail, 02/04/04)
Raymond Sobeski is a patient man.
The 40-something farmer allowed a lottery ticket worth $30-million to sit untouched in a safety deposit box for almost a year, refusing to tell even his mother about his extraordinary good fortune because he didn't want to "do anything rash."
With only 12 days to go before the ticket expired, Mr. Sobeski became the winner of the largest single jackpot in Canadian history by coming forward Thursday with the numbers that matched the Super 7 draw of last April 11.
As cameras flashed and reporters looked on in envy, the reserved bachelor from the small community of Princeton, near Brantford, Ont., said the win still feels "surreal."
"Due to the magnitude of it, I just wanted to make sure that I did everything right and try to remain calm about it," said Mr. Sobeski, adding that he was more interested in creating a legal and financial plan than gathering interest.
Well, we’ve given it a lot of careful thought and we’ve decided we will join you in invading Iraq.
Posted by Peter Burnet at April 2, 2004 2:58 PMSo for nearly a year he gave the Canadian government an interest free loan of 30 million dollars (22.5 million in real money). On the otherhand, think of all the taxes that weren't collected because he didn't spend or invest the money.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at April 2, 2004 3:43 PMFirst it's Artic Saber Rattling and now it seems they want to get into the overseas colonization biz.
If we don't watch out, Point Roberts and the Northwest Angle could be next.