IN January when Anthony White landed his current job manning the gate at a popular funeral home in St Catherine, in January, he had not even the faintest idea that he would end the year as a multimillionaire.

White, 53, not only went home yesterday with a cheque for $10 million courtesy of Digicel Jamaica’s ‘Shake to Win’ holiday promotion, but he also vowed that he would be manning the gates and answering the phones for the final time last night.

“Mi a go a work tonight and tell dem say, mi a lef’ the job, for dem a look fi mi fi come to work. So I am just going there to tell dem say, ‘You know say, you a hear mi, mi nah come back a work y’know’,” he told the press in a brief interview which followed the presentation of the symbolic cheque by Digicel’s CEO Allison Philbert.

What made him even happier was that this “dream event” had taken place just two days before the close of 2019 — a year he started as a lowly paid gateman at Morgan’s Funeral Home in Spanish Town — and the start of 2020, which he will begin as one of Jamaica’s newest multimillionaires.

“My job is to just open the gates to let the [hearse] drivers in and out, and answer the phone, and I have been doing that for the past 11 months,” he explained.

White, who had been on the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s Overseas (North America) Hospitality Programme, which had given him the opportunity to travel in the past, said it was the first time he was winning anything other than bagging a few winners at Caymanas Park on race days.

“I win a little change at Caymanas Park sometimes, that’s my fun, yuh know. A just my enjoyment that,” he said.

However, he did admit that he was not just any ordinary punter at Caymanas Park, as his son, Obrien White, who graduated as a part of the 2011 batch from the jockeys’ training school in St Catherine, started riding in September 2012 and was the top apprentice at the park in 2013.

He said that the young jockey is looking forward to returning early next year to resume riding at Jamaica’s only horse-racing track.

In the meantime, White, who has two other children — a daughter in Mandeville and a son, Richard, a physiotherapist who lives with him in St Catherine — as well as two grandchildren, said he will be taking care of his grandchildren first.

“I am just going to take out a portion for them, and later on I will decide what I am going to do with the rest of it,” he said.

He said that winning the prize money will change his life “big time” and allow him to live more comfortably with his grandchildren.

“I feel more comfortable and relaxed. I just feel nice in myself, and I can take care of my grandchildren same way,” he added.

Prior to presenting him with the symbolic cheque, Digicel Jamaica executives, including Philbert, Brand Marketing Manager Ayanna Kirton, and Head of Public Relations Elon Parkinson took the new millionaire on a VIP ride through the city of Kingston as their special guest before revealing to him the real reason for inviting him into Kingston.

It was not until they returned to the downtown Kingston head office of the telecommunications giant that they told him — at a live event on the premises, hosted by Nationwide Radio‘s Miss Kitty, and to which the press was invited — that he had won the grand prize.

Digicel customers who download the new MyDigicel app, top up with $300 or more, purchase a prepaid plan, activate or continue to be on a Postpaid Freedom plan can enter the competition which runs until next month.

More than 20,000 Digicel customers have already won from the $40-million prize pool since the promotion began on November 21, 2019. The number includes daily winners in the Shake to Win radio promotion, where customers win $25,000 when they answer their phones by saying “Shake to Win with Digicel”, or “Digicel Shake to Win”. As a bonus, the prize was quadrupled to $100,000 on Christmas Eve for every correct response.