Aussie man's mistake leads to half a million lottery win
The lucky player didn't realise his mistake until he checked his ticket.
It's not often that a mistake leaves you half a million dollars richer but that's the reality for one Aussie this week after his lottery ticket with the "wrong numbers" struck gold.
The man, from Whyalla Norrie situated on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, admitted he usually plays sentimental numbers which have a tie to the ages and birthdays of his loved ones. But sometimes that's a lot to remember and he accidentally got a few wrong ahead of the Saturday X Lotto draw this past weekend.
Not only did he hold a division one entry, he also scored division three 18 times, division four 45 times and division six 20 times — bolstering his total prize to over $558,000. When he first checked his numbers, he had to idea of his newfound fortune.
"When I checked my numbers online, I thought 'Oh yeah, I have a few of those. That's great, I’ll get a few hundred hopefully," he said. "Later that night, I checked my ticket and realised that some of my numbers were different from what I originally thought... They all matched!"
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Man lay awake for hours waiting for wife to wake up
The lucky winner "couldn't believe" he had held a division one entry, as well as all the others, and lay awake for hours desperate to tell his wife the news.
"I think I checked the ticket two dozen times. It was 1 am so my wife was asleep, and I just had to sit waiting for her to finally wake up!" he said. "I’ve honestly had no sleep for the last couple of days... it’s amazing. It’s going to change our lives."
The couple now plan on buying a new car and helping their children financially. "In the meantime, we'll relax and let it sink in!" he said.
There were nine division one winning entries in the Saturday X Lotto — draw 4477 — with three in Queensland and Victoria and two in New South Wales. The winning numbers were 34, 40, 12, 23, 36 and 38, while the supplementary numbers were 8 and 30.
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