{"id":145766,"date":"2025-09-15T13:57:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145766\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T13:57:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:57:04","slug":"20-year-old-lottery-winner-decides-against-1m-lump-sum-opts-for-lifetime-weekly-annuity-in-hopes-of-buying-a-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145766\/","title":{"rendered":"20-year-old lottery winner decides against $1M lump sum, opts for lifetime weekly annuity in hopes of buying a home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brenda Aubin-Vega was on her break from work when she scratched a Gagnant \u00e0 Vie<\/a> ticket and instantly became a lifetime winner. The 20-year-old from Montreal uncovered three piggy bank symbols on her ticket, and scored the game\u2019s top prize: $1,000 a week for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe my eyes! I checked my ticket over and over again,\u201d she said while claiming her prize with Loto-Qu\u00e9bec. Stunned, she called her father, then took the rest of the day off to let it all sink in.<\/p>\n

Winners of Gagnant \u00e0 Vie can choose between a lump sum of $1 million up front or a $1,000 weekly annuity. Aubin-Vega went with the lifetime payout and says she plans to use the steady income to eventually buy a home.<\/p>\n

While most winners take the lump sum, opting for the weekly payout can add up. At $1,000 a week, it would take 1,000 weeks \u2014 or about 19 years \u2014 to reach $1 million. If you were to invest the weekly payments at a 5 per cent growth rate, it would take about 13 years for a future value of $1 million, and about 21 years for $2 million.<\/p>\n

Either way, it helps explain why most players choose the upfront money in annuity games like Gagnant \u00e0 Vie<\/a>, Grande Vie<\/a>, and Daily Grand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The winning ticket was purchased at D\u00e9panneur Jen & Dan on Rue Poirier in Montreal, a store Aubin-Vega regularly visits to treat herself. The retailer will receive a $10,000 commission from Loto-Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n

Gagnant \u00e0 Vie (\u201cWinner for Life\u201d) is a $4 scratch ticket game from Loto-Qu\u00e9bec with odds of 1 in 1.5 million for the top prize. To win, players must reveal three identical symbols in a single play area \u2014 like the piggy banks Aubin-Vega uncovered. Winners have 60 days to choose between the annuity and lump-sum options.<\/p>\n

So far in 2025, ten lifetime prizes have been claimed in Quebec across Gagnant \u00e0 Vie and Grande Vie. Nine were $1,000-a-week Gagnant \u00e0 Vie wins, while one Grande Vie player landed $25,000 a year for life.<\/p>\n

Tools to stop gambling<\/p>\n

If you’re looking to take a break from gambling, self-exclusion programs can be effective tools. See here for resources <\/a>that are available across Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brenda Aubin-Vega was on her break from work when she scratched a Gagnant \u00e0 Vie ticket and instantly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[77962,77961,49,48,75,77960,77959,77963,906],"class_list":["post-145766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-annuity","tag-aubin-vega","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-lifetime-winner","tag-loto-quebec","tag-lump-sum","tag-quebec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}