Sylvia Bennett was pondering whether to go with her friends and husband to Las Vegas or stay in Alberta, Canada. She chose to take a ‘staycation’ in Alberta and is now celebrating a $1 million slots jackpot as a result.
“Friends of mine wanted to go to Vegas,” said Bennett. “But because the Canadian dollar is so low, we decided we’d do a Canadian version of Vegas, and we went to Edmonton for the weekend.”
Edmonton’s CBC News reports that Bennett, a sawmill worker, won the big payout at the River Cree Resort and Casino. She was playing a Diamond Millions progressive slot machine when the life-changing prize flashed across the screen.
“I thought, ‘No, no way!’ I’m looking at the zeros, and I looked at the guy next to me. And he’s like, ‘Yes, you won $1 million!’ Bennett recalled. “And I still didn’t believe it.”
Bennett’s immediate celebration included champagne and a 30-ounce steak dinner. But don’t expect her to be splurging much more because she’s going to take her time with the rest of the winnings.
She wants to pay off her mortgage and plan a family vacation with her husband, Dave, and their two sons.
She said “My husband wants to see Rome and Cuba.”
Sylvia Bennett is the 14th Alberta resident to win over $1 million playing Diamond Millions since 2012. She is also the third person worldwide to win a slots jackpot worth $1 million or more within the last last month.
In late February, a man going by “Dustin B.” hit a $1 million jackpot at Louisiana’s Delta Downs Racetrack Casino & Hotel. Dustin was prepared to go fishing that day, but his wife convinced him to go to the casino instead.
A week prior to this, a Scottish schoolteacher won a $3.5 million online slots jackpot on Valentine’s Day. She was shocked at the windfall saying that she never expected to win more than a “couple quid (dollars).”