Quebec lottery winner takes home $12.5 million, doesn’t plan to retire

An entrepreneur from the Montérégie region has won the $12.5-million Lotto Max draw after betting online.

Car racing enthusiast Shawn Batten loves fast cars, but he is in no rush to quit his job after becoming a millionaire.

The Montérégie resident got a phone call from Loto-Quebec on May 20 but didn’t believe what heard at first. An employee had told him that he won $12.5 million in the Lotto Max draw from the day before.

“You just made my day!” he reportedly told the employee, according to a Loto-Quebec news release.

After hanging up, he immediately called his spouse to tell her the good news, but she thought it was a joke.

“I’m in a meeting, and all the team can hear you... You’re not joking right now, are you?” she asked him.

Batten, who spends a lot of his time at the go-kart track, picked up his winnings at the Casino de Montréal, where he also took some time to admire a car belonging to racing legend Michael Schumacher.

The IT entrepreneur plans to continue working but now with some extra cash on hand, he said he plans to travel more, spend more time taking photos, “and maybe buy a cottage too!”

Loto-Quebec says it has awarded more than 40 prizes of $1 million or more since the start of 2026.