Saskatoon man wins $55-million lottery jackpot

A Saskatoon man has won the second-largest lottery jackpot in the province's history.

Matthew Poppel is the lucky recipient ofthe $55-million windfall.

Poppelsaid that after hearing the winner of the Oct. 19LOTTO Max draw was in Saskatoon, he actually called his friend and joked about one of them possibly being the winner.

"I called my buddy and said, 'I saw you won the lottery. When can I expect my million dollars?'" Poppel isquoted as saying in a news release announcing his win."We laughed and were both like, 'Yeah, right. Can you imagine?'"

His jokingquickly turned to disbelief when he checked his ticket.

"I did not think for a second that I had actually won $55 million," he said. "I did not expect that to be something that happened to me."

Poppel said he's going to take some time to decide what to do with his winnings.

He said he'll look to help his parents retire, and to secure the financial future of his family and children.

There will still be time to purchase some fun toys with his winnings.

"I was thinkingand jokingthat I should buy a luxury vehicle just because I can," Poppel said. "But now I thinkit'sa good idea. I can buy it, so why not!?"

The $55-million prize is the second-largest ever won in Saskatchewan.

The largest was a $60-million windfall that a resident of Neville, Sask.,won in August2016.