$1M lotto winners taking long-term maternity leave thanks to winnings

Danielle Stamp and Chris Ward of Mount Pearl are the province's newest millionaires after winning the $1-million Lotto Max prize.

Now, the couple says they are planning to have Stamp take long-term maternity leave thanks to their winnings.

They have a 10-month-old baby and Stamp was planning to return to work soon.

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But thanks to their jackpot prize, Stamp plans to stay home with their newborn a bit longer.

"We won't need to be looking for childcare any time soon, thanks to our big win, and that's a blessing," Ward said in a statement Friday from Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

Their ticket came up a winner on May 15. 

Reaction alarmed baby

The couple was on their way trouting on Salmonier Line when they stopped for gas. Stamp said she heard people talking about the winning ticket being sold in Mount Pearl, so she asked Ward to check theirs.

I called my mom and my mom was screaming, and that upset the baby because he thought there was something wrong.- Danielle Stamp

"I said, 'Do you want to go get it checked?' but everybody knows it's long lineups on May 24 weekend so we were like, 'Nah, we'll go fishing,' so we went trouting, we caught one fish which we threw back because it was too small and all the time, his ticket was in his pocket," she said.

On their way back in to town, the couple stopped at a store to check the ticket and when Ward realized they had won big, there was a lot of family excitement.

"I went in and I called my mom and my mom was screaming, and that upset the baby because he thought there was something wrong," said Stamp.

"We left the convenience store and went to my mom's which was just two minutes away after we found out it was a million and when I walked up over the stairs he was already on top of my father crying, the two of them were crying."

The winning ticket was bought at the Orange Store on Commonwealth Avenue in Mount Pearl.

This is the second $1-million Lotto Max prize awarded to someone from Newfoundland and Labrador this year.

Ed and Donna Ruth from Summerside won the same prize amount in January.