Yahoo Lifestyle Young Lotto winner's surprise $5 million win on ticket he forgot about
The Victorian man in his twenties is laughing all the way to the bank after he bought the ticket as a joke.
A man in his twenties is now set for life after bagging a $5million Lotto win from a ticket he forgot he even bought.
The young man from Maribyrnong, Victoria, spontaneously picked up the unregistered ticket at a shopping centre the week before the draw “for a laugh”. Forgetting about it, he had no idea he was one of four division one winning entries in TattsLotto draw 4467 when it took place on Saturday.
Because the winning ticket was not registered to a player card, it meant officials from The Lott had no way of contacting him. It was three days later when the young Aussie checked his ticket after work on Tuesday and discovered he'd bagged a total prize of $5 million.
"I’d totally forgotten about this ticket," he said. "I had bought it last week and I was at work yesterday and I realised I hadn’t checked it ... When I got home, I scanned it. I didn’t see this coming. I just kept scanning it again and again," he recalled of the life-altering moment.
"I was just in disbelief. This is insane! It’s crazy."
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The man, who says he’s in his 20s, plans to continue working but intends to get married, buy a first home and “set ourselves up for future family life”.
“This definitely puts me ahead in life,” he told lottery officials. “This is very random. I don’t play that regularly. I’m just trying to soak it all in. It’s life-changing.”
The winning numbers in Saturday Lotto draw 4467 were 20, 17, 21, 31, 44 and 41, while the supplementary numbers were 18 and 37.
'Exciting buzz' at newsagent where winner bought ticket
The winning entry was purchased at Nextra Highpoint at a Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong. Store owner Raj Parbhakar said he was delighted to have sold a division one entry in the draw.
“Our customers have been congratulating us every day as they see our signage on the way in and it’s created such an exciting buzz in our store," he said, adding the last division one winning entry they sold was more than four years ago.
More chances up for grabs
There are more chances to win big with Thursday's Powerball offering a whopping $100 million, while Tuesday’s Oz Lotto has $30 million up for grabs.
While stories of winners are inspiring, only a handful of people each year will win a Powerball jackpot that will set them up for the rest of their lives — but many more come agonisingly close to landing the coveted division one prize only to miss out by the slimmest of margins.
One of those is 57-year-old Sunshine Coast renter Rob Brodie. In March 2020, he was just one digit away from sharing the life-changing $80 million jackpot with one other winner. Instead, he walked away with just over $15,000.
"I think of it often to this day of how close I was and how gut-wrenching it was," he told Yahoo News Australia. "It would have made me and my two children set for life with a very comfortable life."
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