'Completely surreal': Sydney mum realises she won Powerball after looking at Facebook
A social media post about a mystery Sydney Powerball winner has helped a mum from Western Sydney realise she is now a whole lot richer.
“They purchased a winning entry from the Greystanes Centre Newsagency and have taken home a Division one prize of $12,000,000!” the post from The Lott read after it was posted on Thursday.
It wasn’t until Saturday night that the woman saw the update on the Powerball Facebook page.
“We were getting ready for bed last night and it said on Facebook that someone bought the winning ticket in Greystanes but haven’t claimed it. I thought ‘Oh my goodness, maybe it’s me?’” the lucky woman told The Lott.
After checking her unregistered ticket, the woman who wishes to remain anonymous, said she was in such a state of shock that she needed help confirming that she was getting a $12 million windfall.
“I got someone to read out the winning numbers and I was shaking as I was looking at my ticket and marking each number off,” she said.
The woman told The Lott that it felt “completely surreal” to be Australia’s first winner of the $12 million dollar Powerball prize.
The Merrylands mum was the only division one winner in the Thursday night draw and celebrated the win with a bottle of wine and indulgent breakfast.
“We had a couple of wines last night, and bacon and eggs this morning to celebrate!” she said.
The woman vowed to still turn up to work on Monday morning, just like the woman who won the largest individual lottery prize ever handed out in Australia.
As for how she plans to spend her new millions, the excited mum said she is considering splurging on a family holiday.
“We have been talking about a nice Christmas holiday to celebrate,” she said.
Australia’s latest multimillionaire said she never thought she would win and is still trying to “process” her new bank account balance.
“I always play Powerball and you read about people winning, but to actually experience it yourself, it’s just surreal. It’s so cool,” she said.
The winning ticket was purchased at Greystanes Centre Newsagency, where staff member Pitou Hong said he was thrilled the winner of the life-changing prize had been found.
“It’s great that it’s a local and one of our regular customers, we wish them all the very best with their prize,” he said.
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 and Twitter, download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo’s daily newsletter. Sign up here.
