Car clean-out leads to $580,000 Lotto win: 'Pile of old receipts'
A Victorian mum couldn't believe her luck when realising she'd been sitting on a treasure trove for more than four months, in the form of an unclaimed Lotto ticket.
The Benalla woman was unaware she had scored a $580,000 TattsLotto prize, which was drawn on July 2 of this year. The ticket was unregistered and buried among a pile of old receipts.
She discovered the ticket four months later when cleaning the car, and excitedly came forward to claim her prize.
“Oh my God! I had no idea!” she said to The Lott official, who could only contact her when she came forward. “I didn’t know about the win this entire time. I’ve been driving around with this lottery ticket worth $580,000 in my car for more than four months!
“I discovered the win when I went through a pile of old receipts and lottery tickets that had been hidden in my car."
When sharing the news with her family, her sister couldn't believe it, suggesting the woman got scammed.
“As soon as I told my sister and mum about the news, my sister said, ‘Are you getting scammed? Where are you?’. I had to reassure her that it wasn’t a scam!" she said to The Lott. “My family and I were scared to believe the winning news until we went to The Lott head office to claim the prize."
The woman has called the win "life-changing" and plans to use it to buy a house. “I can look forward to buying my first family home!” she said. “I’d love to book a little holiday. It’s been a long time coming!”
Wife struggles to convince Aussie husband of couple's $1 million Lotto win
Lotto rejects winner's plea after Centrelink takes chunk of winnings
Benalla Pharmacy happy for regular customer
Taking the winning entry to her local newsagency, she said the team were overjoyed for her.
“I took them straight to the local newsagency to check them and the lovely team member nearly started crying for me when the division one notification came up on the lottery terminal," she said to The Lott official.
“The team at Benalla Pharmacy know me as a regular, so it was a really sweet moment."
The woman held one of the nine division one winning entries across Australia in the TattsLotto draw 4273. The winning numbers were 17, 15, 10, 42, 31 and 37, and the supplementary numbers were 7 and 11.
If gambling is a problem for you go to Gambling Help Online or call 1800 858 858.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
