Lottery 'splurge' pays off for Indian immigrant


By Devon Moriarty


 

Don’t expect freshly minted multi-millionaire Sawarn Singh Dhaliwal to go crazy with his recent lottery windfall.


"He does not want to splurge on anything," says Gary Dhaliwal, one of Sawarn’s three children. "Pay off the mortgage and possibly use it for long term investments."


It was a regular Friday afternoon for the senior Dhaliwal, who lives with his family in Kelowna. He went shopping with his daughter and decided to pick up a Super 7 lottery ticket.


At the last moment he decided to splurge on an extra 6/49 ticket. On May 19, he discovered he was eight million dollars richer for the impulse.


"I was checking my own lottery numbers online when I realized a ticket bought in Kelowna carried the six winning numbers," recalls son Gary. "I asked my father if he had bought a ticket."


Assisting his father as he fumbled through his wallet for the forgotten ticket, Gary noticed three numbers matched. Looking closer, he realized all of the numbers were a match.


"I couldn’t believe it," says Gary. "I just kept re-checking."


Although the Dhaliwal family are now multi millionaires, his son insists that money won’t change their family.


"Of course things will be a lot simpler now. My father has no more financial worries."


Gary says his father was working at a sawmill in northern British Columbia, but the mill recently closed and dad was unsure of his future.


"If he had won while still working up north he would not quit his job," says Gary. "He loved doing what he did."


Dhaliwal, who is originally from Punjab, does plan on splurging on a trip back home to India next winter.


Other that that he will continue to do what he loves: Being a husband, a father and a grandparent.

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