An unexpected gift to kick off the new year.

"It was an early Christmas surprise, that's for sure." says Marie Benner after learning the family's ticket was a winner during the World Juniors 50/50 draws "You never think you're gonna win." On December 23rd, 2020, Marie had seen the reminder about the draw on social media and then promptly forgot. Then later, while watching the game live she saw a reminder again just after the first period and she and her husband Ken decided to purchase a ticket. 

So far there have been no tears or jumps for joy as they still haven't really processed the big win yet. In fact, they are still almost questioning it. "I'm like are we sure this is right? It just didn't hit us." So far it still doesn't feel real but Marie says that'll probably happen when they actually see the cheque, but they are still feeling pretty excited to win. "It's amazing and to have the 50/50 to know that obviously, we get half the prize and the other half goes towards hockey for all the towns and cities within Alberta is really awesome." it's such a great cause and a win-win for the Benner family.

Marie is the bigger hockey fan in their house, her husband admits he can't skate. Marie grew up on the sport and spent lots of time watching it as a kid growing up. "I grew up watching my 3 brothers play hockey, whether I wanted to go or not. So I've always had hockey in my life." That love for hockey has really paid off as they will walk away with over $83,000.   

As to what they will do with the money, Marie says there's a lot of options to consider but one of the first things they will do is share it with family, "We have quite a few siblings between my husband and myself, so were going to give some money to each one of our siblings." says Marie, proving again how giving Airdronians can be. Her husband says about one thousand dollars will go to each of their eight siblings and most of the rest will go into their retirement fund.

Some of the other winners include a group of eight frontline workers at the Lloydminster Hospital. They will split a jackpot of $483,700.  That makes $241,850 for the group to share between them.  A fitting win for a group of people on the front lines in 2020.

As the 50/50 jackpots have progressed during the tournament they have been getting larger.  The jackpot for the December 31st draw was $7,648,700 while the winner last night (January 2) will split a jackpot of $3,970,700.    

You can see the list of current winners here.  There are still two more chances to win, tomorrow night during the semi-finals and during the championship game on January 5th.   

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