A last-minute Quick Pick led to a spectacular haul for a Régie intermunicipale Roussillon police officer living in the Montréal suburb of Saint-Philippe. Jacques Babeu nabbed the second largest grand prize ever offered by Loto-Québec - the whopping sum of $24,426,784 - during the October 27 Lotto 6/49 draw! It was a little over one year ago, on October 3, 2003, that a Laval resident won the record-setting $25,418,690 Super 7 grand prize.

As it happens, Mr. Babeu had recently been wondering about when to retire. Well, he got his answer, thanks to this considerable windfall, which he'll be sharing with his wife Lina. She's the one, incidentally, who checked his ticket this morning, and promptly ran outside in her pyjamas. "What are you doing?" asked the startled winner, who quickly realized the answer to his own question. Totally flabbergasted, he called his boss: "Put what you want, sick day, vacation... I won!" A few minutes later, a police car stopped in front of the house: fellow officers wanted to see the ticket for themselves. Besides retiring, Mr. Babeu wants to fulfill his wife's dream of going to Disney World. The lucky winners also want to treat themselves to a Céline Dion show in Las Vegas. Other than that, Mr. Babeu plans to live off the interest of his millions. "We'd like to take a step back and absorb all of this." Host Yves Corbeil didn't miss the opportunity to congratulate the new multimillionaires.

The lucky Quick Pick was purchased at Dépanneur Medeiros, located at 784 Lamarre Street in La Prairie. This retailer, who was just as dumbfounded as his customer, will receive a commission of $244,267, which is 1% of the prize.

Since 1970, Loto-Québec has awarded over $15 billion to thousands of winners from Québec. Of those prizes, 904 were worth $1 million or more. Since being launched in 1982, Lotto 6/49, still one of the most popular lotteries around, has made millionaires of 530 lucky winners, including 24 in 2004.