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Man wins lottery jackpot after losing home to wildfire

By Ben Hooper
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Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Canadian man who lost his Alberta home to a wildfire said rebuilding will be completed thanks to his winning a lottery jackpot worth $800,000, or 1 million Canadian dollars.

Bill Pendergast, whose Fort McMurray home was lost in the 2016 wildfire, told Atlantic Lottery officials he has been working on rebuilding for the past two years, and he will now be able to finish the project after he won the jackpot from a Lotto 6/49 ticket he bought while visiting his father in Newfoundland.

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"Dad called and asked me to stop on my way back to the hospital and pick him up a cold 7 Up," Pendergast said. "I stopped at Irving in Goulds and also purchased a Lotto 6/49 ticket."

Pendergast said he woke up Feb. 4 and heard that a jackpot-winning ticket drawn the previous day had been sold at the Irving store.

"My aunt asked if I had bought a ticket, and I remembered I did," he said. "I went straight to the Irving and checked it."

"I called my wife Carrie in Fort McMurray and she booked a flight immediately," Pendergast said. "This is all like a dream."

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Pendergast said the jackpot comes at a good time as he is working on home rebuilding and the couple are expecting their first grandchild this spring.

"We have always wanted to take our sons and their families on a vacation, somewhere warm," he said. "But something always got in the way of spending that money, until now. Now we will definitely book that trip."

Pendergast said the money will also go toward funding his retirement and perhaps buying a Ford Mustang.

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