$55K each? Group of 18 wins $1 million lotto prize in B.C.

The B.C. Lottery Corporation logo is shown in this file photo. (CTV News)

A group of 18 colleagues on Vancouver Island will split a $1 million lottery prize after one of their tickets was selected in a recent Lotto 6/49 draw.

Victoria resident Georgena Watmough and her group took home the guaranteed prize in the July 9 Gold Ball Draw, according to the B.C. Lottery Corporation.

Split 18 ways, $1 million works out to $55,555.56 per person, though BCLC did not say how the group plans to share the money in its news release Wednesday.

The winning ticket was purchased in Sooke, at the Chevron on Sooke Road at Church Road, according to BCLC.

Watmough told the lottery corporation she was most excited to share the news with her kids, who didn’t think it was real.

“It’s surreal,” she told BCLC.

A guaranteed prize of at least $1 million is awarded in every Lotto 6/49 draw. If the gold ball is drawn, the winner receives the Gold Ball Jackpot, which starts at $10 million and can grow as high as $68 million.

The odds of winning the guaranteed prize depend on the number of tickets sold. The odds of winning the classic Lotto 6/49 jackpot of $5 million are approximately one in 14 million.

BCLC says lottery players in the province have taken home more than $46 million from Lotto 6/49 so far in 2025.