Mum's mistake before $107 million Powerball win
A Sydney nurse has revealed the mistake she made before discovering she had won a $107 million Powerball prize.
The mum, aged in her 40s, won the eye-watering lottery prize in 2019 after purchasing a ticket in the largest draw the country had ever seen.
Speaking to The Lott ahead of Thursday's $3 million Powerball draw, the woman relived the moment she discovered she won and revealed she thought she won $107,000, not millions.
"Just like everyone else, I bought my entry before the game, went back to doing what I was doing and totally forgot about it," she said.
"It wasn't on my radar at all because it just doesn't happen – people like me don't win, and I still don't think it's truly sunk in yet."
After receiving a call from the Lott with the life-changing news, the mum said she became caught up with the rest of the county.
"I was just as excited for myself as everyone else was for the winner," she said.
“It was like I could look at myself from the outside and think, ‘Wow, that’s so exciting, I wonder what she’s going to do with it?"
Nurse's simple act after lotto win
While many would be popping an expensive bottle of champagne and celebrating into the early hours of the morning, the nurse went on with life as normal.
"I got up the next morning and took the kids to school and had jobs to do and commitments I had to follow through with," she said.
"People needed me to be the person I always was.
"I suppose you get to a certain age and you're already the person you are and you're set in a certain way. When you've had these certain habits your whole life, you don't just change them overnight or at least I chose not to."
The mum said he had always been happy for lotto winners and always dreamed it would one day be her.
"I always used to tell people at the hospital to go buy a lottery ticket if they were feeling down, explaining to them that it gives you some optimism that maybe in the morning you'll wake up and everything has changed, it's something to hold onto," she said.
Winner's tough call after lotto win
The woman said she was overwhelmed by the reactions of her family and friends when she shared the news, and revealed it was a tough choice to decide whether or not to tell her boss.
“There’s only a handful of people who know the full truth,” she told an official from The Lott recently.
Like many lottery winners in Australia, the Sydney nurse has chosen to remain anonymous and only revealed the news to her trusted circle, including her boss.
She said it was a hard choice for her to make when it came to her boss, but she eventually decided to reveal the win.
“I do have a wonderful work environment and when I told my boss she just grabbed me and gave me the biggest hug,” she laughed.
“She [was] so thrilled, but it was hard for me to tell her initially because you just don’t know how it’s going to go.
“She was more worried about if I was going to quit my job, but I told her I needed to keep working.
“Nursing is something that is in my DNA. I can’t not do it!”
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