OLDS - One of Alberta’s newest millionaires can be found cheerily greeting customers, ringing in transactions and troubling-shooting situations at the Mobil gas station he manages in Olds. has worked at the station located near No Frills since 2022 and has no plans to leave any time soon.
One day near the end of July, he bought a $100 Ultimate Scratch & Win ticket at the station that won him $1 million.
Western Canada Lottery Corporation announced his win last week.
You can excuse acquaintances and customers for not knowing it was him though.
Aside from little changing outwardly since his win, the Airdrie resident is not largely known by his legal name but rather his nickname, Sunny.
The name, given to him by a Grade 5 teacher describing his disposition, is even what’s printed on his monogrammed work jacket.
Parmar certainly has much to be cheery about these days.
He claimed his winnings right away after repeatedly attempting to convince not only himself but his family that he actually won $1 million.
“I checked it on the self-scanner and thought it was glitching so I checked it on my app and figured it out,” said the avid lotto player who was just about to start his work shift when the win happened.
It was an amazing feeling, he said.
He first called his mother who did not immediately believe him. His wife also did not immediately believe him. It took showing them the actual winning ticket and logging into the app showing the win to convince them, he said.
Parmar said he plays the lotto every time he fills up with gas at the Olds station a couple times a week. He said he’s “maybe won a free ticket here and there, a couple of bucks” over the three years he’s worked there.
This win took some planning though to avoid pitfalls he says other winners fall into.
“I see so many guys, you read online, oh yeah they’re millionaires and the next year it’s all gone,” Parmar said.
Asked if he’s going to be different, he said “try to.”
“We sat down, saw a financial adviser, paid off a couple of debts and then just need to make the money last (rather) than just go on this whole splurge,” he said.
He and his wife plan on using some of the money to put a down payment on a house once they decide where they want to be “and then see where I can invest the rest of the money.”
Currently, they reside in Airdrie where his wife is pursuing a teaching career. They’ve looked at the housing market in Olds but Parmar said they will likely go where his wife’s career takes them.
