Burnaby woman $630K richer — and celebrated with ice cream, doughnuts

How would you celebrate if you won a lot of money?

For Dolyna Perrella, she christened her recent $630,434,26 virtual victory with ice cream and doughnuts with her husband.

The Burnaby resident earned the "surreal" six-figure payday on Sept. 16, 2023, from playing the MegaJackpots® Cleopatra slot game on PlayNow.com. 

And now, she's set to put aside some of the funds for several travel destinations on her bucket list.

This includes Japan, Italy and a train ride across Canada.

"I couldn't believe it," Perrella said in a BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) release, explaining she played the game before going to sleep one night.

"I decided to take a screenshot on my phone so I could think about it but the next morning I was still thinking about it."

In fact, Perrella wasn't so entirely sold on the winnings that she asked her husband to take a second look.

"He thought it was a joke or a prank even after I showed him the screenshot, so we called BCLC to check. We were both pretty convinced it wasn't real!"

Perrella also plans on gifting some of the money to charity.

The top prize for MegaJackpots® Cleopatra can reach up to $1 million.

Meanwhile, it appears there were two other lottery winners in Burnaby recently.

One was a Lotto Max ticket from Sept. 15 worth $155,075.60, and a Lotto 6/49 ticket worth $73,147.50 from Sept. 27.

It's not known, as of this publication, Oct. 5, if any of the prizes have been claimed.