A Berwick woman has confessed to being in a ‘mild state of shock’ after the prize on her $5 Crossword Instant Scratch-Its ticket turned out to be $100,000 and not the $10,000 she originally thought.
The happy woman scratched one of the top prizes of $100,000 on a $5 Crosswords Instant Scratch-Its ticket purchased at Parkhill Berwick News & Lotto, Shop 13, 215-225 Parkhill Drive, Berwick.
Sharing her joy with an Instant Scratch-its official today while claiming her prize, the winner recounted how she initially thought she had only won $750.
“I was scratching the ticket and initially thought I had scratched eight words which would have won me $750,” she explained.
“So I double checked each letter and then wrote out each word that I had scratched off and thought I had won $10,000.
“I was so excited! I went into the office the next day to claim the prize and when I got there I told the lady behind the counter I originally thought I had only won $750.
“She kind of looked at me funny and said ‘you definitely didn’t win the amount you think.’
“I thought I must have counted wrong and I did only win $750.
“That’s when she told me I had actually won $100,000! I couldn’t believe it! I was in such shock.
“I would have loved to see a photo of me and my husband’s faces at that moment! It would have been priceless!”
When asked how she celebrated the windfall, the happy woman revealed she’d already had her adult children around to celebrate.
“I just couldn’t wait to tell them so I had them all over so I could let them know the exciting news!” she exclaimed.
“When I told them they were in happy tears. I wasn’t too far behind them.
“We cracked open a bottle of champagne and celebrated together!”
The regular player revealed she had a weekly ritual of playing $5 Crosswords Instant Scratch-Its ticket.
“I pick up a $5 Crosswords ticket whenever I put on my lottery tickets,” she explained.
“The most I’ve ever won is $50!”
When asked how she planned to enjoy her instant windfall, the family woman revealed it would allow her to realise her long-held dream of travelling.
“We’ll pay off everything we need to and then we’ll be off travelling!” she declared.
“We’ve always wanted to go overseas but haven’t been able to yet. We are tossing up where to go but we’ll decide when we see it in the bank account.
“The win has been truly life-changing!”
Parkhill Berwick News & Lotto team member Moira Parker said it was a thrill to know one of their regular customers had scored a top prize.
“We were absolutely flabbergasted when we found out we’d sold another top prize winning Instant Scratch-Its!” she exclaimed.
“This is the second $5 Crosswords top prize we’ve sold here. We like to think of ourselves as a bit of a lucky store for scratchies.
“We’ve had plenty of winners win some of the smaller prizes of $750 or a few thousand.
“We are so thrilled for our winner! We are so pleased she won more than she thought!”
In 2018, 155 Instant Scratch-Its top prize winners collectively took home more than $14.26 million.
During this same time, 25,716,051 winners pocketed more than $205.8 million across all Instant Scratch-Its prize tiers.
Get more out of your Instant Scratch-Its by joining the Scratch eClub at www.thelott.com. The Club offers monthly Birthday Draws and Second Chance Draws, which give you another chance to win on your non-winning tickets.
The latest range of Instant Scratch-Its tickets are available now at Tatts outlets.
It can happen in an instant. It could happen to you.
