 Lotto 6/49 winner Sean Mayer, 51 of Seattle won $7,478,217 on a recent ticket. With the exchange rate he will collect $5.9 million U.S., but when he hits the border he must pay an additional $2.1 to the U.S. taxman. Mayer works for SNC-Lavalin and was up here on one of his many business trips to Toronto. (Sun photo/Jack Boland)
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It was evident Sean Mayer was trying to figure out ways to beat the tax man even while the 51-year-old Seattle-area businessman was collecting a $7.5 million cheque for winning the Jan. 3 Lotto 6/49 draw.
But, because Mayer's American, he's going to have to cough up $2.1 million of that prize money to the U.S. government.
"We wish we were Canadian so we didn't have to pay the taxes," his wife, Joni, joked yesterday when asked if the couple felt guilty for being American and winning a huge Canadian jackpot.
Mayer, a senior director of construction for SNC Lavalin, makes monthly business trips to Canada. A day or two before the Jan. 3 draw, he bought his lucky ticket at the Petro Canada on Goreway Dr. in Brampton.
