Kitchener, Ont. winner of biggest MLB jackpot thought it was a prank
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A Kitchener, Ont., man identified only as Robert is almost $4 million richer after he won the biggest jackpot in Major League Baseball history.
And he almost didn’t believe it.
The Jays Care Foundation, the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays, tweeted out the first name of the winner of the month-long Super September 50/50 draw of $3,892,135 just after noon on Monday.
Robert purchased his winning number online and the draw was held on Sunday night at 10 p.m.
He and his wife were notified on the phone by Jays play-by-play commentator Buck Martinez on Monday just before the noon tweet, according to Jays Care executive director Robert Witchel.
“I think Buck said, ‘It was a very Canadian reaction,’ so very low key,” said Witchel. “He said, ‘I think they could have been in shock.’ And we did hear back from Robert and they thought it was possibly a prank call.”
The other half of the jackpot goes directly to support kids in Jays Care programs.
Witchel said Jays Care has programming for over 45,000 kids across Canada and previously the highest 50/50 jackpot was $1,986,400 set by Blue Jays fans in August 2021.
“I think people are really excited about this team (going into the playoffs) and more and more people are watching on Sportsnet so they’re hearing about our 50/50 draw,” he said of the new MLB jackpot record being set.
“Our team also introduced a month-long draw, which had 20 different early bird prizes, which was super exciting.”
