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Revealed: The suburbs with the biggest Instant Scratch-Its wins

For avid instant scratchie players hungry to know where the top prizes have landed in the past 12 months, the hottest winning suburbs have been revealed ahead of Father’s Day.

In the last financial year, there were 176 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners across all states in Australia - except WA - who took home more than $14.17 million in prize money.

During this time, Instant Scratch-Its players bagged more than 31.2 million wins across all prize tiers – which amounted to more than $274.31 million. This is equal to over $750,000 won on instant scratchies every day.

“Last year was an especially tough year, so the winning news was particularly welcomed by our winners," said The Lott spokesperson Ally Ramsamy.

Newsagent sells scratchie ticket to Aussie player in-store. Source: The Lott
The Lott revealed there were 176 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners who claimed over $14 million. Source: The Lott

While Instant Scratch-Its major prizes can land anywhere, any time, Ms Ramsamy said groups of wins emerged from time to time and only time would tell where the next top prize would crop up.

“While we saw pockets of wins in some states, regions and post codes last financial year, it’s important to remember that a win can land anywhere,” said Ms Ramsamy.

“Some players tell us they gravitate towards outlets that have recently sold a top prize in hopes they’ll deliver a win again, while others steer clear of those outlets thinking lightning doesn’t strike twice,” she added.

Queensland suburbs crowned hottest spots for big wins

Officials from The Lott crunched the numbers from the 176 top prize-winning Instant Scratch-Its in the last year and found that Queensland took out the top spot for the most big wins, with 72 of the major prize wins totalling more than $6.6 million.

It was the suburbs of Gladstone, Tannum Sands, Calliope, which all fall under the 4680 post code, in Queensland that were crowned the hottest spots for Instant Scratch-Its top prize wins, with five amounting to $385,000.

New South Wales took home second place for top prize scratchie wins, with 41 top prizes totalling more than $3.3 million, followed by Victoria which claimed 38 top prize wins collectively worth over $2.8 million.

Hand holds winning scratchie tickets up on balcony of apartment building. Source: The Lott
Queensland took home the crown for most big wins, with 72 of the major prize wins worth more than $6.6 million. Source: The Lott

In NSW, it was the suburbs of Baulkham Hills (2153) and Edgeworth (2285) that topped the podium.

Baulkham Hills’ top prizes were worth $225,000, while Edgeworth’s came to $160,000.

Victoria’s suburbs of Newcomb/Breakwater (3219), Tullamarine (3043) and Kennington (3550) won the crown, with two prizes each.

Newcomb/Breakwater’s top prizes came to $50,000, Tullamarine’s amounted to $35,000, while Kennington’s winnings were worth $18,000.

Meanwhile in Tasmania, Huonville (7109) sold two top prize prizes totalling $4,042, while Adelaide (5000) in South Australia also sold two top prizes worth $12,021.

Scratchie winners’ dreams ‘different from the norm’

When we ponder how people would spend their lottery winnings, most assume that it would involve overseas travel, living the high life or perhaps buying a yacht.

However, according to The Lott’s Ms Ramsamy, this is not the case for recent Instant Scratch-It winners.

“While Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners often have big plans for their prizes, like overseas travel and celebrating by going to fine dining restaurants, in more recent times, our winners’ dreams have been a little different to the norm,” said Ms Ramsamy.

“We spoke to a group of four workmates from Flemington in Victoria who won $10,000 and were eager to celebrate together after being apart for months because of lockdown,” she said.

Meanwhile, other winners planned to use their windfall to go back to study, take a break from work and even pay it forward – in the case of a generous Victorian couple.

“A Victorian couple from St Albans could only think of paying their prize forward after they won $25,000, with plans to anonymously distribute vouchers in their neighbours’ mailboxes and pay for random people’s meals,” she said.

Researched released ahead of Father's Day

The Lott's research comes ahead of Father’s Day – one of the most popular times of the year for gifting Instant Scratch-Its tickets.

Ms Ramsamy revealed that many of the winners she spoke to had received their winning scratchie as gifts on special occasions, like Father’s Day.

She added that gifting dad a top prize on Father’s Day is a sure-fire way to “become dad’s instant favourite!”

For your (or dad’s) chance to win, purchase Instant Scratch-It tickets from any licensed lottery outlet.

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