Sudbury couple still in disbelief after winning the HSN 50/50 jackpot twice

"Beyond words" is the best way to describe how Jay and Julie Jessop feel, after winning the Health Science North 50/50 draw for the second time in just over two months.

They are the most recent winners of the draw for November taking home $476,808. They also won September's $506,358 draw.

Jay Jessop says the biggest reaction he's had from friends and family is that they now want him to buy their tickets.  "But other than that, I believe the word 'horseshoe' comes into a lot of the conversations. So there's disbelief pretty much right across the board."

The Sudbury couple say they've been supporting the HSN fundraiser, buying tickets monthly to the 50/50 draw that has been going for about a year. The money raised goes towards people living with cancer, those who need specialised pediatric care and buying equipment for the hospital.

Jessop says they will continue to buy monthly tickets for the draw because it is something they believe in. When asked what they were going to spend their first winnings on, they mentioned helping their daughter who is doing her Master's Degree and is an aspiring veterinarian.  At the time they said the jackpot is going to be life-changing and didn't think it would ever sink in. 

Now they are trying to absorb their second win. Jessop said they still hadn't figured out what to do with the first winnings but they want to give back to their community by donating to local charities.

"Spread some of our good fortune to others that unfortunately aren't quite as fortunate. Food banks and such. So there are no definite plans, but some vague outlines, shall we say." says Jessop.

Seeing one couple win the jackpot twice have left some are wondering how that can be.  

Anthony Keating is the CEO and chief development officer for the foundations at Health Sciences North. He says their 50/50 lottery is governed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. They have very strict rules in place of how ticket draws operate and HSN uses a third party company endorsed by the Commission.

"And so essentially it's a computer that does the random draw for us. We do this with our auditor as part of the process where we have a number of staff members and our auditor sits in on the actual selection of the tickets. So we press a button and essentially the name comes back out to us."

Keating said when they saw the Jessop's name appear again they were very happy for them.  

"We had met Jay and Julie back in September, and they were just the absolute kindest people that you could imagine meeting."

Keating says it goes to show that if the Jessops can win more than once, anyone can.