$30M lottery win buys retirement for C.B.S. couple, parents

A young Conception Bay South couple, and their parents, are quitting work after winning a $30-million Lotto Max prize, which they collected Thursday.

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Stephanie Lewis, 24,and Keith Hayman, 29, won the mega jackpot in the Nov. 6 draw.

"It is a really wonderful feeling," said Lewis as the couplepicked up their cheque.

"We are both going to get a new vehicle. We are going to pay off what we owe, pay off our mortgage now, no more plans really,"said Lewis.

"I think I might get a Cadillac Escalade," she said. Hayman has his eye on a pickup.

Lewis was a quality-assurance control worker at Bull Arm, before she retired last month. Hayman, her boyfriend, is now a retired welder.

Their parents will also retire.

"We're going to give them some money, so they can be worry-free," said Lewis.

Very special Christmas

The couple took a vacation to Mexico after the big win, and decided to share the wealth.

"We each have brothers and sisters and they will be looked after," Lewis said in a news release from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

"Family is so important to us and I can assure you our families will have a very special Christmas."

"We were in shock for a little while, but we're getting used to it now,"said Lewis's mother, Rosalind, who called herself a stay-at-home mom.

"She's going to let my husband retire, something he damn well deserves,"

"I was quite willing to do that," said Francis Lewis, who will stay on as plant manager with a fabrication shop in St. John's until the Christmas break.

"I squealed," said Hayman's mother Karen, describing the moment she heard about the win.

"It's not very often your son wins $30 million."

She and her husband Craig Shaw are self employed.

As for what's next, "I guess we're going to have a really big party," laughed Stephanie Lewis.

It's not very often your son wins $30 million.- Karen Hayman

The couple had to wait to claim their prize, while the Atlantic Lottery Corporation did a review.

The corporation said that was because the couple is related to a retailer who sells lottery tickets.

Having that time was beneficial, said Lewis.

"I think it was a godsend for us to have the 30 days,so we could be prepared for it," she said.

The winning ticket was purchased at theNorth Atlantic Orange StoreinKelligrews. The owner of the store getsa one per cent sellers' prize.

The Nov.6 jackpot was worth $60 million. The other winning ticket was sold in Edmonton.

Two other $30 million jackpots have been won in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Gord and Betty Collins of Placentiawonin February 2013, and a group of eight United Rentals workers in Labrador City won in July 2014.