Keith Kohlsmith may be hiding a stash of horseshoes somewhere, and he certainly had one at a recent Edmonton Oilers game.
The lucky Westlock resident took in the Sept. 29 exhibition home game against the Winnipeg Jets, and came home $33,827 richer after winning the 50/50 draw. At first, he didn’t even realize the winning ticket was his.
“I had to show my wife Joanne the tickets and she had to elbow me and say, ‘That’s your ticket,’” he said.
And even then, it took a few minutes for it to sink in.
“I’m looking at the board, I’m looking at my ticket, I’m looking at the board… man, I started jumping up and down, hooting and hollering and high-fiving everyone around,” he said. “It was quite a feeling.”
Kohlsmith said he goes to three or four Oilers games every year, and never misses a chance to buy a 50/50 ticket when he’s there — but he never really expected to win it, considering how low the odds are.
He’ll continue to play it, though, even though the chances of winning it a second time are even more remote.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anybody that’s won that twice,” he said. “I think it’s a once in a lifetime thing to win that.”
Despite the win, you probably won’t see Kohlsmith driving around town in a brand new flashy car or quitting his day job. Rather than frittering the money away foolishly, he said he has some pretty responsible plans for the unexpected windfall.
“I’ll get a few things for our house, pay off a couple loans, and the rest I’ll just have for a rainy day,” he said.
