A lotto luck: 3 millionaires in 3 months has Summerside buzzing

Atlantic Lotto players can't be blamed if they start going to Summerside, P.E.I., to purchase their tickets.

The city of about 15,000 has had three $1 million winners in just over three months.

"That's just amazing the chances of that happening, next to none really," said resident Roy MacCaull. "It's just wonderful for it to happen here on P.E.I."

All three winners bought their Atlantic 49 tickets at gas stations, including two about a block away from each other on Granville Street. The first two winners were from the area, Eric Gerlund of Bedeque and Shelly Campbell of TyneValley.

The most recent winner, a truck driver from New Brunswick, bought his ticket at Reads Corner Esso on Water Street on Feb. 28.

Reads assistant manager Laurie Power said ticket sales have been up after the wins.

"Everybody's very excited," she said. "They come in, 'Oh give me the winning ticket, I would like to have the winning ticket, anyway, could it be me next time.'"

'It's certainly not usual'

Natalie Belliveau, senior communications counsel with Atlantic Lotto, says the winning Atlantic 49 numbers are chosen through a random number generator. The chances of matching all six numbers and winning the $1 million prize are one in 13.9 million.

"It's certainly not usual for us to have that amount of winners in one city in a short amount of time, but that's kind of the fun thing about the lottery is that it is random," she said.

Ryan Simmonds, site manager for Mel's in Summerside where another $1 million ticket was sold, said the lottery luck has created lots of buzz in the city, and he hopes it continues.

"I've been involved in the retail business for many many years and this is the first time I've seen three winners in such a short period," he said.

"It just created more talk in the community, you know, when one won it was big talk, but then when we won it was even bigger, then the third one."

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