Dangriga taxi driver wins $117,500 Lotto jackpot

It wasn’t the biggest Lotto jackpot, but the more than one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars up for grabs sent hundreds to stand in line for their chance to win. And last night, one very lucky man walked away with it all. James Bennett, a taxi driver working in Dangriga could hardly believe his luck when he realized that the winning numbers on display were the same ones on the ticket in his pocket.

James Bennett, $117,500 Lotto Winner
?When I passed earlier, on the Lotto board I see the fifty thousand, I said basically somebody must win it. So I say maybe dah no me because I di try this thing long time and you know. So I end up going to the bus terminal at Dangriga because I dah a taxi-driver and when I reach there, dem bwai di talk about the numbers. They di say the numbers and so I seh, me noh win man. So I gone circle and come back and I seh mek I check in my ashtray, because dah usually there I keep my numbers. And when I haul it out, I see that dah the same numbers dem bwai do talk bout and I tell them I win and they noh believe me. So I seh all right then, mek we go dah the board. And when I gone dah the board dah the same thing and that?s how I find out that I win.?

Janelle Chanona
?How did your family react??

James Bennett
?Well, mi baby ma and my kids them noh know what to do, because dah something weh just happen. From one day to the other, you never know what wah happen.?

Janelle Chanona
?I know you done spend it inna your head, how it going??

James Bennett
?Well I got plans already. As anybody weh find out they win the Lotto, the first thing dah build their house, and that dah weh I got and my kids them education because they still di go to school and I have to further their education.?

After taxes, Bennett takes home ninety-nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-six dollars and five cents. The winning numbers, which Bennett bought using the “quick pick” option were four, five, twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-six.