{"id":16041,"date":"2013-12-31T17:30:04","date_gmt":"2013-12-31T17:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=16041"},"modified":"2013-12-30T20:25:54","modified_gmt":"2013-12-30T20:25:54","slug":"canadian-lottery-winner-donating-entire-jackpot-to-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/canadian-lottery-winner-donating-entire-jackpot-to-charity\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Lottery Winner Donating Entire Jackpot to Charity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tom
Recent Canadian lottery winner Tom Crist – shown here with his now-deceased wife Jan – was in a charitable mood after getting a phone call from the Western Canada Lottery Corporation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even if you don’t play the lottery very often, we\u2019re sure that you\u2019ve imagined what you would do if you were to win a big jackpot. We\u2019ve all come up with answers to that question on our own: what we\u2019d buy, how we\u2019d invest, and with which of our friends and family we\u2019d share our newfound wealth. Many of us would also give some portion of our winnings to charities that are important to us \u2013 but it\u2019s hard to imagine most people being nearly as generous as a recent lottery winner in Canada has turned out to be.<\/p>\n

Quite a Golf Game<\/h2>\n

Winner Tom Crist was on vacation in California when he received a call from the Western Canada Lottery Corporation<\/a>, alerting him to the reality that he had just won a $40 million (US$37.5 million) jackpot in the Lotto Max drawing \u2013 the largest in the history of the WCLC lotteries.<\/p>\n

Normally, lottery winners don\u2019t learn about their winnings via a phone call. But Crist – who was playing golf in Palm Springs at the time – wasn\u2019t a typical lottery player. He was on a subscription plan with the lottery that automatically purchased tickets for him on each drawing. The WCLC checked his numbers automatically, and as is their policy, a win of more than $10,000 triggered a call to Crist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to think,\u201d Crist said about receiving the call. \u201cI was speechless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the jackpot, Crist said that he had received a handful of small checks for minor wins, but had never had a win of any significant amount \u2013 let alone a jackpot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve paid for the subscription when I get the renewal notice every year, and then I just file it,\u201d Crist said. \u201cSometimes I\u2019d get a check for $10 or $20, but I never expected this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The call came in May 2013 \u2013 the drawing he won occurred on May 3 \u2013 but he hadn’t come forward to collect his winnings until this month. In fact, at the time of his win, he didn\u2019t even tell his fellow golfers about the massive jackpot he had just won.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s because Crist was fortunate enough not to need that newfound windfall at all. As the retired president and CEO of a wholesale electronics company, Crist had banked $1.14 billion in 2012 when he sold his business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate enough, through my career, 44 years with a company,\u201d Crist said. \u201cI did very well for myself. I\u2019ve done enough that I can look after myself, for my kids, so they can get looked after into the future. I don\u2019t really need that money.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that train of thought is apparently what spurred Crist to decide to make a difference in the lives of others instead.<\/p>\n

Crist\u2019s wife Jan had died in February 2012, a passage that was the impetus to start a family foundation. The lottery money will now go to that foundation, from which he and his children will decide where to donate the proceeds; most likely it will be distributed between a number of cancer-related charities.<\/p>\n

For the most part, Crist has actually tried to downplay the significance of his win and his charitable gesture, even wearing sunglasses in required publicity photos taken by the lottery to make himself less recognizable. Still, he did admit that he\u2019s happy the money is going to a good cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy I won because I can donate a lot of money to charity,\u201d Crist said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even if you don’t play the lottery very often, we\u2019re sure that you\u2019ve imagined what you would do if you were to win a big jackpot. We\u2019ve all come up with answers to that question on our own: what we\u2019d buy, how we\u2019d invest, and with which of our friends and family we\u2019d share our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":16053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCanadian Lottery Winner Donating Entire Jackpot to Charity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Canadian lottery winner Tom Crist - already a billionaire in his own right - donates a $40 million lottery win to cancer charities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canadian Lottery Winner Donating Entire Jackpot to Charity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Canadian lottery winner Tom Crist - 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