Ottawa barber, client share $32M lottery win

Jul 7, 2008, 12:46 pm (33 comments)

Canada 6/49

Two Ottawa men are splitting a $32 million lottery jackpot after decades of buying tickets together.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," one of the winners, Samir Haddad, said Thursday. "Today, signing some papers, my hands were shaking. When I look at all the zeroes..."

Haddad, 57, and his friend and barber Mike Detorre, 71, were back in Ottawa after taking four limousines and 35 relatives with them to Toronto to pick up their Lotto 6-49 winnings the day before.

Haddad, who installs hardwood flooring, came to Canada from Lebanon in 1969 and has been playing with Detorre since the lottery started in the early 1970s.

Normally, the men split the cost.

But a few weeks ago, Haddad bought the $3 ticket as a tip after a haircut at Detorre's barber shop because he didn't have any change.

"I told Mike that day, I'll splurge — I'll buy it with the Encore."

Haddad returned to the barber shop at Seneca Street and Sunnyside Avenue, blocks from Carleton University, the next Saturday.

"I went to Mike and I gave him heck," Haddad recalled. "I said, 'When are you ever going to call me to say we've won something?' He said, 'It's when you buy the winning ticket.'"

Haddad said he took the ticket back, replayed the numbers — 4, 16, 20, 23, 28, 44 — and left it behind the mirror as he usually did.

On Monday morning, Detorre visited the convenience store in the same building as the barber shop, where he and Haddad bought their tickets on Mondays and Thursdays.

'There was no happy dance'

Preet Sanhu, who owns the shop and is also Detorre's landlady, said Detorre checked his ticket on the instant checker but showed no sign he'd won.

"There was no happy dance," she said, adding that if she won, she would "do a real big dance out there and scream."

By the time Detorre and Haddad next met, they had both checked the numbers.

But Haddad first made Detorre pay for his half of the ticket.

"He gave me $1.50 and I told him, 'Here, you can have $16 million.'"

The two men then went back to work.

Since then, the win has had an impact in his life, Haddad said. At the bank on Thursday, he didn't have to wait in line. He went straight to the manager's office.

Both men said they will share the money with their families.

CBC

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ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

That is a nice story. Congrats to them both!

Sun Smiley

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Maybe the man was in shock when he scanned his ticket or had the good sense to keep his composure.   It would be difficult not to shout aloud or do a "happy dance" but that's why I check my numbers online!

Yes Nod

Nice story.  Wow - 30 years of playing together.  So maybe there's hope for me after all!  Thumbs Up  Notice the article says the winning ticket was a replay of a Quick Pick?  (wish FL would bring back the 6/49 game)

Trained2beRich's avatarTrained2beRich

This is a very sweet story. There is not greed involved.  One splurges with $3 dollars and then collets the $1.50 after he realized it was a winning ticket..  what shocked me actually was the 35 relatives!!!  I don't know what the taxes are in Ontario but if is cash value that about 8 million before taxes it could be $5 million after taxes which is nice. But geez 35 relatives if they all got 10k each thats an average of 175k for each lotto winner.  I only have 3 peple to tell when i when=Mom,Dad & brother.  I am not even sure I would do a limo ride but then again i will collect it ina blind trust.  I know which law firm and "boutique" financials services company I will be using....I have nt narrowy down which school I will go to find a butler tho.  (can you tell I am single with no kids?)

Trained2beRich's avatarTrained2beRich

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Jul 7, 2008

Maybe the man was in shock when he scanned his ticket or had the good sense to keep his composure.   It would be difficult not to shout aloud or do a "happy dance" but that's why I check my numbers online!

Yes Nod

Nice story.  Wow - 30 years of playing together.  So maybe there's hope for me after all!  Thumbs Up  Notice the article says the winning ticket was a replay of a Quick Pick?  (wish FL would bring back the 6/49 game)

yes I know. sometimes I replay my quck pic numbers because they are numbers I would never consider playing.

MaddMike51

Quote: Originally posted by ThatScaryChick on Jul 7, 2008

That is a nice story. Congrats to them both!

Sun Smiley

I Agree! Lucky dogs!

Fraserm

There are no taxes on initial lotto winnings in Canada.  They both get 16 million straight to the bank.

mken32's avatarmken32

Quote: Originally posted by Trained2beRich on Jul 7, 2008

This is a very sweet story. There is not greed involved.  One splurges with $3 dollars and then collets the $1.50 after he realized it was a winning ticket..  what shocked me actually was the 35 relatives!!!  I don't know what the taxes are in Ontario but if is cash value that about 8 million before taxes it could be $5 million after taxes which is nice. But geez 35 relatives if they all got 10k each thats an average of 175k for each lotto winner.  I only have 3 peple to tell when i when=Mom,Dad & brother.  I am not even sure I would do a limo ride but then again i will collect it ina blind trust.  I know which law firm and "boutique" financials services company I will be using....I have nt narrowy down which school I will go to find a butler tho.  (can you tell I am single with no kids?)

what is a blind trust and why would you set one up?

Uff Da!'s avatarUff Da!

Quote: Originally posted by Trained2beRich on Jul 7, 2008

This is a very sweet story. There is not greed involved.  One splurges with $3 dollars and then collets the $1.50 after he realized it was a winning ticket..  what shocked me actually was the 35 relatives!!!  I don't know what the taxes are in Ontario but if is cash value that about 8 million before taxes it could be $5 million after taxes which is nice. But geez 35 relatives if they all got 10k each thats an average of 175k for each lotto winner.  I only have 3 peple to tell when i when=Mom,Dad & brother.  I am not even sure I would do a limo ride but then again i will collect it ina blind trust.  I know which law firm and "boutique" financials services company I will be using....I have nt narrowy down which school I will go to find a butler tho.  (can you tell I am single with no kids?)

Sharing with their relatives does not mean equal shares.  There is nothing in the story to indicate the others are equal lottery winners. 

I'd share with a large group of extended family, too, but most of them would only get one or two percent!

One2Adore's avatarOne2Adore

Quote: Originally posted by mken32 on Jul 8, 2008

what is a blind trust and why would you set one up?

A blind trust is a trust in which the executors or those who have been given power of attorney have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust. Blind trusts are generally used when a settlor (sometimes called a trustor or donor) wishes to keep the beneficiary unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest between the beneficiary and the investments. Politicians often place their personal assets (including investment income) into blind trusts, to avoid public scrutiny and accusations of conflicts of interest when they direct government funds to the private sector.

*source: wikipedia

In other words, I think this means that the money is placed in a company's care (trust) to take care of on your behalf.  Because the money is in a trust's name and not yours, if someone wanted to sue you, they couldn't make a claim on your winnings because technically, the money doesn't belong to you.

That's my understanding of it.  Someone please correct me if I'm worng.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Sounds good to me. Smiley  (she writes as if she has a law degree.  lol)  Just keep in mind that Wikipedia is not always 100% correct since it is written by people like us and can be edited.   I once asked a lawyer about this subject and that's the answer I got in a nutshell, but I think there are volumes written about trusts and why people create them. 

Personally, I would never give another person power over my assets.  Blind Trusts have also been used for more sinister reasons.  In real estate, many slumlords don't want tenants to know who owns the building so they can't call him up when a rat bites their children.  (Some states don't allow this.)   Another questionable use of them applies to political donations.  Sometimes politicians create them to avoid impropriety.  Example: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/05/State/Fla_leaders_don_t_all.shtml

time*treat's avatartime*treat

I include free cheese in all my slums Jester, but I'd also like to know which states don't permit rats to bite the children. I could save money on cheese. Clown

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

When I decide to have my book "LP posts by justxploring" printed for publication, I'll make sure I use proper grammar, punctuation and sentence structure before it is available for sale to the public.

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

$1.50 for 16 million dollars is a good trade. If Haddad had been cynical he could have denied Detorre his part of the prize since he didn't pay up front.

Wintariofan

Quote: Originally posted by Fraserm on Jul 7, 2008

There are no taxes on initial lotto winnings in Canada.  They both get 16 million straight to the bank.

You're right Fraser ... it's all tax free. all lottery games are tax free here until you put it in the bank.  Also on a side note:  if you plan on giving family members money over $50,000 -- you need to have their names on the back of ticket and tell lottery officals how much your are giving them, otherwise they could be taxed after if you simply gave them $1 million.     

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