$150 million Powerball winner's surprise promise: 'I know it may be crazy'
An Adelaide man who has become the country's biggest lottery winner has recounted the jaw-dropping moment he realised.
A very lucky, and understandably astonished South Australian man has become the country's largest ever lottery winner claiming all of Thursday night's $150 million Powerball jackpot. As officials waited to be contacted by the mystery winner on Friday morning, his excited reaction to the news has now been shared.
The middle-aged man from Adelaide contacted The Lott this morning to confirm he held the only winning division one entry, stopping the search and breaking the hearts of any Aussies who still held out hope they had the winning numbers. However the winner is, of course, anything but broken hearted.
"I'm still pinching myself!" he told lottery officials. "I can’t believe it. I’m the mystery winner! I’m Australia’s biggest lottery winner ever?!"
He recalled how he checked his Powerball ticket and realised he had won late Thursday night. He scanned his first ticket with no luck. But when he scanned his second ticket, his jaw dropped and he began screaming and repeatedly checking the numbers.
"I actually had two tickets into last night’s draw. I looked at the clock last night and saw it was getting late and thought the draw should have been done by then
"So, I checked the first one and it came up with nothing, then I scanned the second one and it said $150 million!
"I’ve never screamed so loud or jumped so high! This was late last night and I still haven’t slept," he said.
"I normally play Powerball, so yesterday was a particularly lucky day! I just bought my ticket as I was filling up the car the other day ... I can’t believe I walked away with the winning ticket!" he added.
Multimillionaire intends to keep working
Despite his astonishing win the man has confirmed he intends to keep working, treating his workweek like any other after becoming a multimillionaire.
"I know it may sound crazy but I’m going to continue working. I’m at work today," he admitted.
He plans on buying a new house, travelling and helping his loved ones financially with his new found fortune but for now he needs time to "wrap my head around how big this prize is".
The winning numbers in Powerball draw were 18, 29, 34, 8, 4, 28 and 6. The all-important Powerball number was 11 — with the division one winning entry bought in Salisbury in the city's north.
In addition to the Adelaide man's division one win, there were 4,433,211 winners across divisions two to nine in Thursday's Powerball draw who collectively took home more than $89.3 million.
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