MONTREAL WOMAN PICKED $1,000 A WEEK FOR LIFE OVER $1M
Brenda Aubin-Vega, a Montreal lottery winner in her twenties, scratched a ticket on her work break and hit the top prize in Loto-Québec’s Gagnant à vie game. She then chose $1,000 every week for the rest of her life over a $1 million lump sum.
Loto-Québec announced the win on July 3, 2025.
She had bought two tickets at a Montreal convenience store, Dépanneur Jen & Dan at 1655 Rue Poirier. She scratched them outside her workplace during a break, and three piggy-bank symbols in the same game turned up.
She did not trust it right away. “I couldn’t believe my eyes! I checked my ticket over and over again,” Aubin-Vega told Yahoo News Canada.
Once she was sure, she called her father. Yahoo Finance reported that she also took time off work, and CityNews Montreal said she asked for the rest of the day off to let the news sink in.
Loto-Québec said she plays Gagnant à vie a few times a year and considers it her favourite lottery game. That made this one a fairly well-earned piece of luck.
The prize came with a choice, and she went with the weekly payments, which Loto-Québec said she will receive for the rest of her days. Noovo Info reported that she hoped to use the money to buy a home.
The store got a payday too. Loto-Québec said the retailer would receive a $10,000 commission, equal to 1% of the prize.
The internet argued about her math
Not everyone liked her choice. Yahoo Finance reported that Reddit commenters ridiculed the decision, arguing the lump sum was the more rational option.
The outlet ran the numbers as well. Its analysis put the weekly payments at a 5.2% annual yield on the $1 million alternative, and noted that inflation could eat away at a fixed payment over the years.
Not every Reddit reaction was negative. “The advantage of not taking the lump sum is that the vultures don’t start circling for a payout. It’s the only way you can win a million and tell people,” one commenter said.
Part of a busy year for lifetime prizes
Aubin-Vega was far from the only lifetime winner in 2025. By the time of the July 3 announcement, Loto-Québec said, nine Gagnant à vie top prizes and one Grande Vie lifetime prize had been won in Quebec.
The latest coverage of her win, Yahoo News Canada’s report on September 15, 2025, said she planned to put the weekly annuity toward buying a home.
