A Saskatoon man is a million dollars richer after a weekend motorcycle trip to Prince Albert.
Transit driver Paul Smith stopped by the Northern Lights Casino after heading out on the open road.
Smith says the Smoke Signals win of $1.3 million took a while to register in his mind – in fact it didn’t sink in until he was halfway home.
“I got halfway home back to Saskatoon I had to pull over, turn off the bike, look around make sure there were no farmers in the field or anything like that. I just, (yelled) ‘yeah!’ You know, it was a pretty good feeling,” he said.
Smith wasn’t able to tell his wife Laurie right away because she was working a busy nursing shift.
“I texted her and she was too busy working, she didn’t get back to me right away,” Paul said.
Laurie explained the contents of that text, saying “he had the picture, he said ‘this is no kidding, this is not a joke, I just won the jackpot.'”
But she didn’t believe him at first.
“She called me, she had me on speakerphone and she had everyone congratulating me,” Paul said.
In this whirlwind week, Smith – who works with Saskatoon Transit – has been able to re-evaluate his retirement plans.
“I was worried about if I could retire so this helps a lot,” he said.
He said he’ll make the official announcement at work on Thursday, or “as soon as the money’s in the bank.”
The couple bought a new vehicle and plans to be conservative with the winnings by paying off debts and doing some traveling.
The rest, they’ll be saving and investing.
