{"id":715829,"date":"2026-06-05T02:49:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715829\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T02:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:49:22","slug":"i-just-about-fell-over-says-46m-winner-of-manitobas-largest-lotto-6-49-prize-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715829\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I just about fell over,\u2019 says $46M winner of Manitoba\u2019s largest Lotto 6-49 prize – Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Whitemouth man who won the Lotto 6-49 gold ball, the largest jackpot in Manitoba\u2019s history, says he\u2019s going to use the $46 million to enrich his loved ones.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When Earl Giesbrecht scanned his winning lottery<\/a> ticket\u00a0at\u00a0his\u00a0local supermarket, he said he was happy to\u00a0win,\u00a0but\u00a0his mind turned blank when\u00a0he\u00a0saw\u00a0the\u00a0historic\u00a0amount.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to go check my tickets. I always buy for the Tuesday-Wednesday draw and Friday-Saturday draw. At this point, I was frustrated that I never win, but I went into the store and it said \u2018not a winner,\u2019 \u2018not a winner,\u2019 then a free play,\u2019\u201d Giesbrecht said at a celebratory meeting with reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Manitoba\u2019s newest multimillionaire said his largest win before the gold ball jackpot was $1,200.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd then the other one came out, and I thought I won $46,000. \u2026 When I started counting the zeros, the cashier said, \u2018It\u2019s actually $46 million,\u2019 and I just about fell over,\u201d he said in a news release shared by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries.<\/p>\n

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Immediately after winning, he said he called his brother.<\/p>\n

His family was in the audience Thursday, cheering him on. Among his supporters was his newlywed son, whose wedding was on the same day as the draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will tell dad what to do and what not to do,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

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His children, and children-in-law, are getting new vehicles of their choosing, the winner said, adding he hopes the funds flow to his grandchildren and generations to come.<\/p>\n

News of the historic win at Giesbrecht\u2019s home in Whitemouth, a town just over 100 km from Winnipeg, spread quickly, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhitemouth\u00a0Fire\u00a0Department needs a water tanker.\u00a0So, they have so much money saved, and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0going to donate\u00a0whatever it is that they need to get the water tanker because if anyone\u2019s house in the area is burning,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0going to come,\u201d Giesbrecht said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to call it \u2018Big E.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Giesbrecht grew up in the eastern Manitoba community before moving away\u00a0and working\u00a0in the north\u00a0for 40 years. He moved back to his hometown in December, shortly after his retirement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Whitemouth man who won the Lotto 6-49 gold ball, the largest jackpot in Manitoba\u2019s history, says he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,67347],"class_list":["post-715829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lottery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715829","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=715829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}