B.C. winner of $500K lottery prize hoping to purchase 'dream house'

Tara Valente of North Vancouver, B.C., won $500,000 playing the Extra on a Lotto Max ticket. (BCLC)

The latest lottery winner from B.C.'s Lower Mainland bought her ticket after seeing her "dream house" was on the market – and now, she might just be able to live there.

North Vancouver resident Tara Valente said she was in "disbelief" after discovering she won $500,000 playing the Extra in the Feb. 27 Lotto Max draw.

Valente told the B.C. Lottery Corporation her good fortune all started with a wish.

"I was motivated to buy a ticket because I saw my dream house down the street was for sale," she said.

The Lotto Max ticket was picked up at the Chevron gas station at Capilano Road and Woods Drive.

Valente said she now hopes to purchase her dream home, and will also be investing some of her winnings.

The BCLC did not provide any details on the property, such as the purchase price, but the benchmark price for homes in North Vancouver was $1.39 million last month, according to the MLS Home Price index.

Winning half a million dollars on the Extra – which costs $1 on top of the normal Lotto Max ticket price – requires matching all four numbers in the draw. The odds of doing so are one in approximately 3.76 million, according to the BCLC.