72-year-old Bequia fisherman wins $253,000 Lotto jackpot

SEVENTY-TWO-year-old ‘Sweet Potato’ of Bequia remains grounded after winning the $253,000 Lotto jackpot, and intends to use some of the money for his grandchildren’s education.

Julian ‘Sweet Potato’ Ollivierre, a fisherman of Friendship Bay, reeled in a big one when the numbers for the Lotto jackpot from the National Lotteries Authority(NLA) were drawn on January 15.

“I just feel that… something would come,” Ollivierre recalled of last Tuesday, as he stood near the spot where he bought the winning ticket in Port Elizabeth, Bequia.

JULIAN OLLIVIERRE, winner of the January 15 Lotto jackpot

He listened to the draw on radio, ready with his pen and paper to check the numbers, which he says he has always played for a very, very long time.

However, the suspense continued, as Ollivierre wasn’t sure about the last number called, explaining “If you notice on the ticket, the two, have a little dot… I didn’t certain.”

At that point, “all I could do was go down on my knees,” he said.

Ollivierre mention that some persons, Seventh Day Adventists like himself, would say that it wasn’t “God money.” “This ain no joke, up to this morning they confronting me dey,” he noted, when persons laughed.

As fate would have it, when Ollivierre returned to the agent who he bought the ticket from, Iishmah Foyle, he heard her telling other people that someone from Bequia had won. “I say “Yes?” …after I say, “What is the last number?”… Hmmm…she say ‘27,’ I say here you go, look the ticket,” he recalled.

The winning numbers were 02, 09, 10, 15 and 27.

The 72-year-old says that he has “good intentions” for the quarter of a million dollars, and that part of it was going to his grandchildren’s education, of which he has seven.

The General Manager at NLA McGregor Sealey advised, “I want to encourage you please sir. To spend this money wisely… from my vantage point at the National Lottery, I have seen persons that have won much more money than this, and today they have nothing.”

As for other plans for the money, Ollivierre, who says he is “not a greedy fella” and likes to give, had promised an airplane ticket to the NLA agent if he won.

“Wherever she want to go…if she don’t want to go that’s her business,” he quipped, saying that he doesn’t go back on his promises.

Foyle, who will also, per NLA policy, receive 1.5 per cent commission on the sale of the winning ticket, is already thinking that she may go to Nassau, the Bahamas.

However, Ollivierre will not be giving away all of his winnings, clarifying honestly, “Some of it [will go to his grandchildren, but], …can’t put all, ‘cause I have to live.”

It has been a long time since a jackpot has been won by someone from the Grenadine Island, and so the NLA officials made the trip to Bequia on Tuesday to hand over the cheque to the Friendship Bay resident.

Ollivierre had already bought another ticket for the upcoming draw, which he said he was looking forward to.