Canadian Man Wins $1 Million in Lottery After His Family's Home Burns in Wildfires

Bill Pendergast's luck has not been good over the past year or so.

But it's a heck of a lot better right now.

The Canadian man was handed a giant cardboard check Friday for $1 million, the payoff for his winning ticket from Atlantic Lottery Corp. 

He and his wife, Carrie, lost their home and everything in it to wildfires in 2016 that ripped through their town of Fort McMurray in Alberta.

His new landslide of cash will go a long way toward rebuilding their house.

"It's pretty awesome looking at that bank account with all those zeros," he said during Friday's check ceremony. 

He bought the ticket on a lark during a trip to see his sick father. His dad asked him to stop a get him a cold 7UP. When he picked up the soda, he also picked up a lottery ticket. 

And in the Feb. 3 drawing, he won a cool million.

The Pendergasts are not spending all their winnings on their house. Bill has been ogling a Mustang, a car he's coveted for years. And the family would like to travel.

"Between myself and my wife, Carrie, we have five boys," he said. They are "definitely taking a family vacation, so they're in the process now updating their passports."

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