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Vancouver Island lighthouse keeper wins a million bucks playing the lottery

“I usually just get a quick pick, so I didn’t expect to win a big prize”
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Ivan Dubinsky was the $1 million Guaranteed Prize winner for Lotto 6/49’s Nov. 27, 2019 draw. (BCLC Media Relations photo)

A man who has been shining a light for northern Vancouver Island for more than a decade has had some bling reflected back in his direction.

Ivan Dubinsky, keeper of the Scarlett Point Lighthouse on Balaklava Island just north of Port Hardy is a millionaire thanks to the Nov. 27 Lotto 6/49 draw.

Dubinsky said in a phone interview with the VI Free Daily that he didn’t quite believe it at first when he saw that he’d won a guaranteed million dollars, “but now that I’m down here at the lotto office (in Vancouver) I’m getting a bit excited.”

Dubinsky, who has been the lighthouse keeper at Scarlett Point since around 2007, said he purchased a virtual ticket online at playnow.com and he actually matched up all ten numbers in order to win a guaranteed million dollar prize that is separate from the regular draw.

“I usually just get a quick pick, so I didn’t expect to win a big prize,” noted Dubinsky, who added that the money will come in handy because, “I’m planning to retire soon, so some of it will go to the purchase of a house and then some to my family. It’s an exciting event, once in a lifetime.”


@NIGazette
editor@northislandgazette.com

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Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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