Couple wins $675,000 on a $4 scratch ticket eight years after their record-breaking $2.5 million lottery prize

Winning a top lottery prize once is rare enough that most players never see it happen. A couple from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, has now done it twice on scratch tickets eight years apart, according to People. Angelina and Edward Lado claimed the Set for Life top prize with Atlantic Lottery after a $4 ticket came up a winner.

The pair first made headlines in 2018, when a Multi-Millionaire Scratch’N Win ticket paid out $2.5 million. That prize was the largest ever awarded on a scratch ticket in Newfoundland and Labrador at the time, according to CBC. Angelina was working as a cook at a local restaurant then, while Edward was studying to become an electrical engineer.

This time, the Set for Life ticket offered two options for the top prize, either $1,000 a week for 25 years or a lump sum payment of $675,000. The couple chose the lump sum, Atlantic Lottery said. All prize amounts are in Canadian dollars, which puts their two wins at a combined $3.175 million.

Edward Lado says he thought his wife was bluffing when she told him they had won again

Angelina bought the winning ticket at Marie’s Mini Mart on Kiwanis Street in St. John’s. When she called her husband with the news, Edward did not believe her. In a release from Atlantic Lottery, Edward said he told her to calm down and that they would see whether it was real once he got home. After checking the ticket, the couple realized it was genuine.

Edward said the couple plays modestly, especially now, but added that a player cannot win without buying a ticket. He noted that they have bought more expensive tickets before without winning anything significant. However, it was the $4 Set for Life ticket that delivered the top prize. The store that sold it will also receive a one percent seller’s prize.

The Lados plan to put part of the money toward their children’s education, as their kids are currently in college and university. Edward said they want to give them a head start in life. However, the couple is not making any other big decisions yet. He said they are still digesting the moment and see taking their time as the best option.

Their first win came with a far more personal plan. When they claimed the $2.5 million prize, Edward said the money would let him search for his mother, whom he had not seen since he was an infant. He said at the time that she was living in a refugee camp somewhere in Uganda, and that he hoped to find her and bring her to Canada.

The couple, originally from South Sudan, became Canadian citizens and settled in St. John’s before their first win. Their 2018 ticket also came from a Marie’s Mini Mart, though at a Hamilton Avenue location rather than Kiwanis Street. Atlantic Lottery said the couple likes to think they may even be back one day to claim a third top prize.

Few winners get a second trip to the prize office, and some scratch-off players barely make the first, as one Ohio man dug his ticket from trash before claiming $100,000. For the Lados, the biggest hurdle described in the release was Edward’s disbelief, which lasted until he checked the ticket at home.

Their prize was the second top award claimed in the current Set for Life series, which launched in March. Atlantic Lottery said five more top prizes remain available in that run. Each one carries the same choice between $1,000 a week for 25 years and the $675,000 lump sum the Lados picked.

With five Set for Life top prizes still unclaimed, the Lados could keep playing modestly in hopes of becoming three-time winners, as Edward says buying a ticket is the only way to win.